


The Last Bunny of Krypton

by AvengingHobbits



Series: The Adventures of Superbunny [1]
Category: DC Animated Universe, DCU, DCU (Comics), Disney - All Media Types, Superman - All Media Types, Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Crossover, F/M, Gen, Inspired by Fanart, Judy Hopps is Superman, Loads of them, Lots of DC and Superman references, various other characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-08-28 09:16:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8439991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvengingHobbits/pseuds/AvengingHobbits
Summary: Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superbunny!Yes, it’s Superbunny, strange visitor from another planet who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal mammals. Superbunny, who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in her bare hands. And who, disguised as Judy Hopps, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, the Daily Planet, fights a never ending battle for truth, justice and the Zootopian way.**************As you can no doubt tell, this is a blend of Zootopia with the Superman mythos, with Judy Hopps as Superbunny. Inspired by the wonderful fanart of judylavernehopps.tumblr.com, I hope you enjoy the story!Let us take flight into the great beyond!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> As always, credit where credit is due. This fic wouldn't exist without the glorious fanart of judylavernehopps, who created the original Superbunny concept, and that I have decided to expand upon.
> 
> You can find her fan art, along with other people's additions to the AU, here:
> 
> http://judylavernehopps.tumblr.com/tagged/superhero+au

Jor-El, deep down, knew he would be facing an incredibly difficult task. Even with his months of data, research, and information he had gleaned on many, _many_ expeditions to the wastelands of Krypton, it would not make the truth any easier to swallow. Krypton was doomed, and its end was coming sooner than later. He had to be sure, of course, that he hadn’t missed a key detail, or a minor mathematical error. Even the slightest such error would only undermine any of the good he’d managed to do, or any hope he’d managed to scrape together for the fate of his people.

Those tense thoughts had been at the forefront of his mind when he had first stepped inside the Council chamber, holoboard jam-packed with calculations under his arm. He’d hoped that his aiding in the defeat of Zod’s mad schemes would grant him some leeway with the council.

That had been ten minutes ago. Before the Council had heard his statements. Before they had decided, confirming Jor-El’s worse fears, to jam their heads back into the sand.

“At the expense of repeating everything you have just said,” one of the older members of the Council began. “You wish to uproot our _entire_ civilization over _your_ fear of a few earthquakes?”

“With all due respect, Councilman,” Jor-El replied, pointing back to the displays of his research on the holoboard. “These tremors are far too regular to be normal earthquakes, and they grow stronger by the day! Based on my current projections, it will only be a few days before they reach a frequency and intensity enough to destroy Krypton entirely.”

“All other evidence has pointed towards this being nothing more than a standard, minor geological polar shift, nothing more.” another Councilman said, scoffing sharply. “And what sort of tremor is strong enough to destroy an entire planet, Jor-El? What sort of logic is that? Planets do not just explode.”

“I am fully aware of that, Councilman,” Jor-El replied, before motioning to his displays once more. “But the evidence suggests that this may be the consequences of the Great War. The core ”

“That was ten centuries ago, Jor-El,” Yet another Councilman countered. “Whatever residual effects the war may have had would have already manifested. And besides, are you a geologist?”

Jor-El hesitated briefly, before shaking his head. “No, but I do not think that matters when the lives of billions are at--”

“If you are not a geologist, then you have no place investigating geological phenomena, do you? Tell, Jor-El, what caste to you hail from?”

Jor-El was silent for a moment.

“Answer me, Jor-El.”

“Astrophysicist, sir.”

“Ah, I see. An astrophysicist. And aren’t you, Jor-El, the same Jor-El who has already come before this very council with a request to waive the conception laws in regards to the birth of your child?”

“I am, but I fail to see what that has to do with--"

“Oh I see it quite clearly. You have a history of going against the grain, Jor-El. Bypassing the rules. Overstepping your bounds. Stepping out of line. You may have already dabbled unwarrantedly in a multitude of sciences, but dabbling does equate expertise. You may have had the sympathy of the council in regards to your child’s conception, but your father is no longer here to sway us, is he?”

Jor-El shook his head. “No, Councilman. He is not.”

The angry councilman nodded, crossing his arms. “Exactly. I for one, will not entertain your childish, apocalyptic fantasies and delusions. All they will do is cause unnecessary strife and disturbance among the populace. And all without the slightest hint at anything even vaguely resembling a solution! We’re already dealing with the aftermath of Zod’s attempted coup, the last thing we need is astrophysicists stepping out of their bounds, and attempting to disturb the peace even further!”

Jor-El didn’t respond, simply looking up at the council with a look of angered confusion. “If you would just listen to me for a few more minutes,” He began, motioning to his display again. “I have taken it upon myself to prepare a ship, a small ship for deep space travel! All we have to do is send an explorer ahead, and then place ourselves in the Phantom Zone for a short time--”

“The Phantom Zone?! Are you _insane_ , Jor-El?!” the first Councilman said. “You are _dismissed_.”

“But--”

“ _Enough._ **_Leave_ ** _._ ”

Jor-El had no answer, instead simply grabbing his holoboard, and walking out of the Council chamber, the heavy imposing doors closing behind him.

* * *

 

The young, matronly bunny gazed down lovingly at the quietly sleeping infant in its crib. A pensive look was on the mother’s face, as another low, uneasy rumble vibrated through the house, causing it to creak audibly, and the baby in the crib to shift in her sleep.

Rubbing a gentle, calming paw over the baby’s coat, the mother’s ears perked up at the sound of repulsors. She cast a glance over her shoulder, she was greeted by the sight of a small, hovering droid.

“Oh, Kelex. What is it?” she asked, refocusing her attention on the sleeping infant.

“Your mate has returned, Madame Lara.” The robot replied calmly, voice as level and sterile as always.

The rabbit’s--Lara’s--eyebrows knit together slightly. “What did he say?”

“He asked that you come speak to him privately, ma’am.” Kelex answered.

Lara looked back down at her infant, who remained sleeping soundly and quietly in her crib. The mother’s paw gave the sleeping infant one last loving stroke. “I’ll be right back, my darling Kara,” she whispered, before standing from her chair by the crib and quietly walking to the door that lead out of the nursery. She paused in the doorway, turning to look at the floating droid.

“Please, keep an eye on Kara, will you Kelex?”

The droid’s headpiece tilted forwards slightly. “Of course, Madame Lara.”

Lara smiled thinly, before stepping into the hallway that lead to the living quarters. She walked slowly, paws wrung together pensively as she looked ahead to see, standing in the living room and looking equally concerned, if not more so, her mate.

“Jor-El, you’ve returned from your meeting with the council already?” She asked, walking up to him and clasping his paws within her own. “What did they say?”

Her husband's face grew dark, and he gazed out the window that showed the steady surge of the ocean outside.

“Darling?” Lara pleaded, gently turning his face towards hers with a paw. “What did the council say?”

Jor-El gave a deep sigh. “They said I was speaking out of turn. That my findings were ‘unsupported by the evidence’.”

“Unsupported by the evidence?” Lara asked, shaking her head in confusion. “But what about the tremors? The eruptions in the northlands?”

Jor-El pulled his paws free from Lara’s, clenching them together in frustration as he made his way to the window, looking out over the ocean, visibly angry. “They said it was none of my business. Told me that as a physicist and astronomer, I had no authority looking into geological events. They even said I had already stepped out of my bounds enough and should just return to my designated place. Like some sort of drone.”

Lara quietly walked up to Jor-El, resting her head on his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around him from behind. “Then what do you plan to do now?”

Jor-El took a deep breath, his eyes scanning the horizon, where, looming in the distance, growing larger by the second, were dark storm clouds.

“This planet is doomed, Lara,” he answered quietly, voice dark. “Both you and I know it.”

As if to underline his words, there was another low rumble, the glass of the window visibly shaking and creaking. Lara’s grip around her husband tightened.

“Are you absolutely sure? Sure that there’s no other way?” she asked in a hushed, fearful voice.

Jor-El simply nodded. “Even if there was, it’s not like I can move our entire civilization off world just like that. I have neither the time nor the means. Even my previous solution would have required full cooperation of the Council, and they rejected that out of hand.”

“Then what about Kara?” Lara asked, looking at her husband’s reflexed image in the glass. “Will her fate be the same as ours?”

Jor-El tensed. “ _No._ ” he answered sternly. “It will not.”

“Then what will be her fate?”

“Simple. We send her away.”

Now it was Lara’s turn to tense up. “Send her away? Where? Krypton has been all our people have known for centuries, Jor-El.”

“What good is knowing a place that is about to die, Lara?”

Lara was silent, clenching Jor-El a little tighter as everything began to shake with another tremor.

“It’s already happening. We must hurry.” Jor-El said, gently releasing himself from Lara’s arms and starting down the hallway towards the baby’s room. Lara’s concerned gaze followed him, her feet following soon after as she quickly caught up with him.

“Jor-El, where-- _how_ \--are you going to save Kara? The teleportation drives only work for on-world, and you said yourself the entire planet is doomed!”

“Don’t worry, darling, I told you, I have a plan.”

Lara reached a paw out, clenching it on Jor-El’s shoulder firmly. “You are absolutely _not_ sending our only child to that horrific Phantom Zone! She would die there in an instant!”

Jor-El turned, giving Lara his best comforting smile. “The thought never even crossed my mind, dearest Lara. I will instead send her off world.”

“ _Off world_? Where?! The closest is Daxam, and they are utter savages!”

“No, Daxam is too close. When Krypton is destroyed, so will it.”

“Then _where_ Jor-El? Tameran? Thanagar? Almerac? New Genesis? All of those are light years--even parsecs away! And they’re all so alien to us! She’d be ostracized!”

“Don't worry yourself, Lara. I know the exact place I want Kara to be sent to. Now,” he motioned towards the baby’s room. “Go, get Kara ready.”

Lara hesitated, hands now wringing once more worriedly. “After I get her, will you at least tell me where you plan on sending her?”

“Of course.” Jor-El nodded. “I would be a fool to hide it from you.” Lara gave a weak nod, ducking away as a smaller tremor rocked the house. Kara was still sleeping soundly, a small puddle of drool having puddled around her mouth. It pained Lara to have to rouse her as she leaned in to scoop the child up, but surprisingly Kara continued sleeping, snuggling into the crook of Lara’s arm as she returned to Jor-El.

“She’s still sleeping,” Lara whispered. “Now, will you please tell me where you plan to send her?”

“Earth.” Jor-El answered, beckoning for her to follow him to the large laboratory that was down a staircase and on the floor below.

“Earth?” Lara asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. She had vague recollections of it being mentioned as the third world in a small, backwater system occasionally mentioned in some star charts, but beyond that, her mind was a total blank. “You mean that backwater world?”

Jor-El nodded, already quickly striding over to the tarp covered object in the center of the room. “Yes. That one.” As he spoke, he yanked off the heavy tarp, revealing a small, rather humble looking spacecraft. He pressed some buttons, and the door to the ship opened with a hiss, revealing its interior, while Jor-El quickly slid into the seat, bringing up the holoscreen.

“Darling, are you sure it will work?” Lara asked worriedly as another tremor, far more intense this time, sent visible cracks scurrying up the wall. She bundled the sleeping Kara even more, eyes worriedly darting between the spreading cracks.

“No, I am not, but it is our only viable option.” Jor-El answered, shaking his head sharply. “It must.” Jor-El added, paws busily typing on the holoscreen, map coordinates and star charts flickering by.

“But why that planet? Why such a primitive, dare I say savage world?” she asked, catching sight of a data sheet about the planet. “They don’t even have the simplest of warp drives yet.”

“Because there she will be safe. There she will be strong.” Jor-El answered, pausing his typing to give Lara a comforting smile.

“How can you be so sure? How do you know the environment won’t poison her?” Lara pressed, her arms still wrapped tight around the sleeping child.

“I’ve already thought of that, my dearest. It’s a near identical atmosphere, cleaner even! Most importantly, it has a _yellow_ sun. The sun there will make her strong--stronger than anything else they could possibly imagine. It will strengthen her mind, her body. Trust me.”

“But...what good is that if she forgets us?” Lara asked, tearfully looking down at the child. “She’d be a stranger, in a place where she’d never fit in...how would she cope?”

Jor-El paused. Another tremor rumbled the home. He got out of the ship, walking slowly over to Lara, and looking down at the sleeping Kara.

“I can only hope she won’t forget us. I left a recording inside the ship of myself. Some basic information, really, nothing too sentimental. We can make one of you, if you wish.”

Lara was silent for a moment, the uneasy rumbling of another tremor resounding through the home. She gave a quiet nod.

“I would love that.” she whispered.

Jor-El nodded slightly, stepping away from Lara to go fetch the recorder, a small, rather non-descript device that had a single lens. He brought it over to Lara, who cradled Kara closer to her as she looked up into the lens.

“Dear Kara, I am Lara-El, your mother,” she began, swallowing back a glut of tears. “I truly believe you have grown into a fine, beautiful young lady, who knows the warmth of a loving, caring family, wherever you find yourself. I know this is probably a touch overwhelming for you, but trust me when I say that, no matter what you may have feared, me and your father loved you with all of our hearts. Don’t be sorrowful. You were blessed with a gift, a gift more wondrous than any you can imagine. The gift of a fresh start, far away from our dying, sterile world. How I wish I could be there to see you in the flesh, but I know I cannot. I pray you never forget this, and go on to live a truly free and blessed life. A life filled with those who love you. You may find yourself feeling alone--out of place, but you are not. You are my daughter. My shining star. The center of my universe. You’ve probably already seen your father’s message. There he may tell you about your powers, those gifts you’ve no doubt discovered you possess. Use them well. Return cruelty with kindness, injustice with justice. Help the helpless, those in need, because while you may have powers, miraculous abilities, they do not define you. Your actions do. So live a life that speaks of nobility. Of kindness. Of love. Like the love I have for you, my precious one.”

She then swallowed, clearing her throat and wiping away her tears. “I think I over did it,” she tried to laugh, looking down at her child. “Goodbye, my dearest.” She whispered, walking to the spaceship, and gently resting the child inside.

Jor-El silently walked over, placing the recording device inside, before wrapping a paw around his mate’s.

“There’s still room for you, if you wish.” he said quietly. “I can easily program the life support to--”

Lara shook her head, wiping away tears. “No. No, it is better this way. If I went, I would only yearn for you. I wouldn’t be able to withstand the pain. We chose to forgo the genetic programming with Kara for a reason. Let her have the freedom of choice. The freedom to do whatever she wants. She won’t be able to have that with me there, chained to the past.”

Without any further words, she reached up, grabbing the handle for the ship’s doorway and pulling the door shut. It clasped shut with a mechanical hiss, and Lara jolted slightly, before pulling herself into Jor-El’s arms as she began to weep.

“Goodbye, my child,” Jor-El said quietly, paw brushing against the clear window before letting it drift to the control panel nearby. “May your new home welcome you."

With that, he pressed the launch button, beckoning Lara a few steps back as the rocket began to roar to life, the rumble of the engine matching the rumble of an oncoming tremor.

“And so it ends.” Jor-El whispered, as the rocket launched skywards, as the roar of the tremor grew deafening, as the planet began its final spasms.

* * *

 

As the rumbling and exploding eruptions of magma burst forth from the planet’s surface, drowning out the agonized, terrified shrieks of billions, a small, fast moving spacecraft could be seen hurdling out of the atmosphere and towards the stars.

As it did so, a swirling, vibrant wormhole opened before it, gently drawing it within as the planet behind it finally exploded in a blinding burst.

Inside the probe, sleeping peacefully, was a small, baby bunny.

Krypton was no more, but the infant’s journey had only just begun.

 


	2. Chapter 2

“ _The forecast for the holiday weekend is lookin’ mighty cold, Buck, even for December, I gotta say. That blizzard from the Northwest is moving in awfully fast, likely to hit us either tomorrow morning or Wednesday afternoon, so you farmers down in the Triburrow area better batten down the hatches! We’re looking at two, three, heck, maybe even four feet of snow with this fella, and some real gusts of wind…"_

The talkative chatter of the radio continued to prattle on, and the subject shifted from the oncoming blizzard to more mundane matters. In the meantime, Stu and Bonnie Hopps, two sensible bunnies, were wrapped up in their own conversation, while driving in their truck on the way back from the parent teacher’s conference.

“I’m telling you, there’s just something about Monica’s tone that doesn’t sit right with me,” Bonnie said, shrugging as she looked out the window across the dark, snow covered fields.

Her husband, Stu Hopps, gave a shrug. “I didn’t notice much of anything.”

“I don’t know, it just sounded snide. Like I was a bad mother or something. How was I supposed to know Chandler wanted to give Erica a pet frog?” she paused, tapping her chin slightly. “You don’t think I’m a bad mother, do you, Stu?”

“Nope. If anything, old Monica DePelt is just envious of you.”

Bonnie shrugged. “I suppose, so, yes."

The pair fell quiet, the radio news chatter shifting to random pop music, as the highway ahead of them stretched onward. It was quiet, as nights in the countryside on the outskirts of Bunnyburrow tended to be. Nothing out of the ordinary at all.

Which made the sudden appearance of a bright light cutting across the sky all the more surprising.

“Well, whadda ya suppose that is?” Stu pondered aloud, eyebrows raising slightly as the sudden bright light appeared to grow closer and closer.

“I don’t know...looks like a comet or something,” Bonnie replied, arching an eyebrow and leaning forward slightly.

The ‘comet,’ however, took a sudden veer to the right, and with an increasingly loud roar, barreled down on them. The pair let out a collective shout as the comet rocketed past. Stu made a hard veer to the left, causing the truck to slide one hundred and eighty degrees, sliding off the road and onto the nearby dirt. The comet crashed with another explosion of noise and smoke into the field behind them.

“What the heck?!” was all Stu blurted, as he fought to get the lurching truck off the uneven ground and back onto the road. The truck, after much grinding and growling of gears, rocked sharply as it finally managed to get back onto the asphalt of the road. Stu’s paws were wrapped around the steering wheel like a vise.

“Honey, stop the car, stop the car!” Bonnie demanded, tapping Stu sharply on the shoulder as the truck drove up to the comet in the field. The truck came to a halt, headlights illuminating the strange, oblong looking... _thing_ that had seemingly crashed into the field on the side of the road.

“What do you think that is?” Stu asked as Bonnie began to fiddle with the sleeves of her overcoat, pulling it on hastily as she unbuckled her seat belt. Stu raised an eyebrow.

“Dearie, what are you doing?"

“Checking if anybody needs our help, Stu!” she replied, popping the door open and letting in a burst of chilly night air. “Don’t you see the windows on that thing? It obviously has to have a pilot!”

“Wait, honey, what if it’s some sort of secret military plane? You’d think he would have ejected already.”

“Maybe he’s injured, Stu. Anyways, it wouldn’t hurt to check. Don’t be paranoid.”

“I’m not being paranoid,” Stu countered, unbuckling his own seat belt as he pulled on his jacket and hopped out after Bonnie. “I’m being sensible. You have no idea what’s in there! Who it belongs to! It could be from another country, heck, even a different planet!” He managed to catch up with her, and he walked alongside her, eyeing the apparent spaceship warily.

“Oh come now, Stu, aliens? Really? How is that sensible?” Bonnie replied over her shoulder, walking up to the object, She got within three yards or so and then the object seemed to sense her presence. It suddenly let out a series of whirs and beeps as the darkly tinted windshield popped open with a loud _hiss_ , not unlike the trunk of a car. Bonnie felt Stu’s paw abruptly grab her shoulder and pulled her behind him, placing himself between her and the spaceship.

The pair watched, eyes wide, as the windshield, now revealed to be more of a hatch of some kind, steadily eased itself open, mechanisms hissing and whirring loudly. From inside the ship, a visible cloud of what seemed to be steam came pouring out, and with it, a wave of noticeably warmer air.

“What in the name of…” Stu whispered in awe.

As the mechanical sounds dulled down, another, far less expected sound, greeted Bonnie’s ears.

“A baby?!” she blurted out, instantly recognizing the plaintive wails of an infant coming from inside the spaceship. “Honey, I think there’s a baby in there!”

“Wait--Wha--why would there be a baby in a spaceship?!” Stu asked as Bonnie quickly circumvented him, quickly trudging the three yards through the layers of thick snow that lay on the ground.

Bonnie came to a halt immediately next to the spaceship and warily leaned forward, peering inside what she assumed was the cockpit. Her heart leapt as her eyes fell upon the fussing and swaddled form of a gray infant bunny. Next to it was a small, polished. and obsidian-like object, which had seemingly been hurriedly stuffed within the folds of the bright red cloth the baby was bundled in.

“Oh dear,” Bonnie whispered, maternal instincts taking over as she leaned forward to give the baby some calming strokes. “There, there, little one, it's all right. Don’t be scared,” she gently cooed, causing the baby to look at her with wide and curious eyes.

Bonnie smiled down at the baby while she began to beckon for Stu. “Stu, come here, look! It’s a baby!”

Stu walked up next to her, eyes continually checking on the spaceship as he neared it, before he too leaned in to look at the baby.

“Well, I’ll be darned,” he muttered, bafflement obvious in his voice. “How’d you suppose this little fella ended up in this thing?”

“I don’t know, but we can’t just leave it,” Bonnie replied, biting her lip as she looked for a way to shield the baby from the cold winter air. She glanced at Stu before tugging on his jacket.

“Stu, let me borrow your jacket. I don’t think the covers it’s bundled in are going to keep her warm.”

Stu gave Bonnie a brief, confused look before unzipping his overcoat and passing it to her. Bonnie took it, quickly wrapping the little bunny inside it and gently lifting it out of the cockpit, making sure to keep it as bundled as possible.

The baby, who had been looking up at Bonnie with wide eyes, seemingly didn’t notice the cold. Its tiny paws reached towards Bonnie, burbling all the while.

“What do we do now?” Stu asked, rubbing his arms to keep himself warm as he looked back down at the spaceship, shaking his head in confusion.

“We take it home.” Bonnie stated matter-of-factually, smiling down at the baby and letting it teeth on her finger. “Not like it’s from around here.”

“Now, Bonnie, hold on,” Stu quickly said, spinning around to follow after Bonnie as she started back for the truck. “You can’t just pick up any old baby you see, especially one that you just found inside a _spaceship_!”

“What do _you_ want to do, Stu? Leave it here?” Bonnie countered, opening the passenger door to the still-running truck and carefully clambering into the passenger's seat, briefly reaching forward to fiddle with the heater.

“No, Bonnie, I don’t--”

He was cut off by her closing the passenger door, and Stu let out an exasperated huff as he ran around the truck to get in on the driver’s side. He closed it firmly behind him, the much warmer interior serving as a respite from the icy cold outside.

There was a lull of silence, broken only by the baby’s content burbling as it fiddled with the zipper handle on Bonnie’s jacket.

“Stu, look,” Bonnie began softly, giving Stu a concerned, yet kindly look. “Its obvious that she has no family--what kind of family would shoot their baby in a rocket ship like that? She was all alone, Stu. I mean, if we weren’t here to find her, what do you supposed would have happened?”

Stu hesitated, looking back over at the spaceship, still illuminated by the headlights of the truck. He wasn’t prepared for any of this. Heck, less than ten minutes before, he and Bonnie had just been having the most average conversation a couple could have. He was a farmer. Always had been. Life was simple.

Rescuing abandoned babies from sudden unexplained rocket ships was most certainly _not_ simple.

He looked back at Bonnie, finding her gaze to be determined. She cuddled the baby closer to her, the sound of its happy cooing reminding Stu of his own children. He let out a long sigh before giving a slight shrug.

“I suppose you do have a point.” He followed the shrug with a discreet nod. He started the truck, casting the spaceship a worrisome glance. “I feel I’m gonna have to come back for that.”

“Well, can you worry about that when the storm passes? No need to get us all stuck out in the snow.” There was a pause as Bonnie looked down at the baby. “What should we name her?”

“Name? Well, I dunno,” Stu shrugged, “Is it a boy or a girl?”

“It’s a girl,” Bonnie answered. “I checked before you got into the car.”

“Okay, a girl…” Stu’s fingers tapped on the steering wheel. “Lola?”

Bonnie shook her head. “No, no, she doesn’t look like a ‘Lola’...” She gently rocked the baby back and forth as the baby’s eyelids steadily grew heavy. “Hmmm...how about…Judy?”

“Judy?” Stu replied, raising an eyebrow slightly. “Like your grandmother?”

Bonnie gave a nod. “Yeah.” She looked down at the baby, who had drifted into a seemingly peaceful sleep. “Judy Hopps.”

* * *

 

**Six Years Later**

“So where are we going now, Daddy?” Judy asked, chewing her gum and clutching her stuffed Spider-Fox toy in her arms, looking into the rear view mirror from her booster seat in the backseat of the family’s weathered pickup.

“Uh, home, Judy,” Dad answered, briefly glancing into the rear view mirror before returning to the road ahead. “So just sit tight, and we’ll be home within an hour.” He then glanced over at the teenaged rabbit that sat next to him in the front passenger’s seat. “And then Chandler can get ready for that date with whatshername.”

The other rabbit rolled his eyes, letting out a frustrated sigh. “I’m just taking Erica to the movies, Dad. It’s _not_ a date,” he replied emphatically.

“What movie, Chandler?” Judy asked, tilting her head in curiosity. Chandler gave a slight shrug.

“I don’t know, she picked it. Something about a big boat or something, I don’t know.”

Judy nodded slightly. She always found it weird the way her brother tended to blush and stammer around his ferrett classmate, but whenever she asked anyone in the family about it, they’d just shrug and say “You’ll understand when you’re a big girl.” or some variation.

 _But I am a big girl_ , she thought, huffing slightly. She wasn’t five anymore, she was six! Well, almost. Her birthday wasn’t for a few more days, but still! Six was bigger than five. That was a fact.

Her own thoughts were interrupted by a sudden loud popping noise, quickly followed by the sound of something scraping against the ground as the truck began to shake.

“Oh darn,” came her father’s muttered response as he looked into the sideview mirror. “I think we busted a tire.”

Judy’s ears pricked up as Chandler’s shoulders slouched, and he muttered a four letter word under his breath.

“Daddy, Chandler said a bad word,” she stated matter-of-factly, to which Chandler responded by casting a dirty look over his shoulder.

“Chandler, watch your mouth,” their dad admonished as he brought the truck to a halt by the side of the road. He lowered the window, poking his head out into the chilly winter air as he let out a frustrated huff and zipped up his jacket.

“Yup, definitely a busted tire.”

“What happened, Daddy? Did the truck break?” Judy asked, her curiosity piqued. Her dad turned to look at her and gave her an easygoing smile.

“Oh no, honey, the truck didn’t break. A tire popped, is all.”

Judy’s eyebrows rose. “Can I help fix it?”

Her dad responded by shaking his head. “Sorry, Judy, but you aren’t big enough yet. Chandler will help.” He then cast an expectant glance Chandler’s way.

“Come on, Chandler, help me change it,” he ordered, which caused Chandler to scoff, zipping up his own jacket with a roll of the eyes. Her dad then looked back at Judy.

“Now just sit tight, and we’ll be right back on the way home. ‘Kay, honey?”

Judy gave a nod. “Okay, Daddy.”

Her dad and brother both exited the truck, closing the doors behind them, and Judy was left alone in the truck with only the low wurr of the heater and her Spider-Fox to keep her company. She could hear some muffled talking from outside, her brother’s voice taking on the tone usually reserved for complaining about cleaning his room or mowing the lawn.

The door next to Judy then opened as her brother appeared. He reached in and picked up a big metal thing and a funny shaped metal stick.

“Need help, Chandler?” she asked.

Chandler merely grunted, closing the door just as soon as he’d opened it. Judy crossed her arms, huffing in frustration.

“But I wanna help…” she muttered, her foot reflectively making a tapping motion. This looked more like an awkward flapping since she was in a booster seat. She heard her dad and brother talking among themselves and the sound of something being cranked, along with more frustrated mutterings.

Judy’s face scrunched up in a childish pout. She just wanted to help. It sounded like her daddy and big brother needed all the help they could get.

She looked down at her Spider-Fox doll. “Do ya think I should help them?” she asked. She made the doll nod, muttering “Sure thing!” as she did so.

“Then I will!” She replied firmly, nodding in determination. With a click and a pop, she unbuckled herself from the booster seat, setting Spider-Fox down in her place. “Stay here, okay?” she quickly added, giving him a motherly point. She popped the door open and hopped outside, not really noticing the crisp winter air, or how it made her breath come out in cloudy puffs.

She skipped around the truck, humming an idle tune, and rounded the back of the truck and came to the other side. Judy saw her dad crouched down on one knee, cranking up the weird metal gizmo while her brother held two metal stands in his paws, foot anxiously tapping the ground as he visibly shivered.

“Need help, Daddy?” Judy asked, and her dad looked up.

“Judy, what are doing out here! Go back in the truck, it’s too cold for you out here!”

“But I wanna help, Daddy!”

“Ugh, Judy, just do what Dad told you,” Chandler muttered. Judy just stuck her tongue out at him before turning back to their dad.

“Please, Daddy, let me help!”

Her dad stopped his cranking, looking at Judy with a flat expression. “Judy, trust me, as much as I know you wanna help, you can’t right now. This truck’s really heavy, and Daddy’s gotta lift it, and you’re too small to work the jack, okay?”

Judy frowned as she stared up at the truck. She’d seen her dad lift it with that ‘jack’ gizmo at least a dozen times. It couldn’t be that heavy. And she wasn’t too small. She was almost six, darn it, and six years old meant she was a big girl.

And big girls could totally lift a silly truck.

So that’s what she did.

“Look, Daddy!” she chirped, quite satisfied with how well she’d managed to heft up the truck. Just like she thought. It wasn’t heavy at all.

Which is why the noise her dad made was all the more confusing.

“JUDY, PUT THE TRUCK DOWN!” he practically screamed, and his voice jumped at least six octaves in pitch. Chandler’s response was a loudly shouted curse word, which caused Judy to cast a frown his way.

“Daddy, Chandler said another bad word!” she frowned, still holding the truck aloft.

“Put the truck down, Judy!” Her dad shouted again, paws clutching his head as if it’d fall off any second.

“But Daddy--”

“Judy!”

The sharp, loud bark of the order caused Judy to flinch, and she let the truck drop out of her grip, where it landed back on the ground with a thunderous noise.

Before Judy even had a chance to respond to her dad, he’d swept her up in his arms, frantically looking her over for injuries. Meanwhile, Chandler stood, slack jawed, and his eyes darting between Judy’s somewhat confused self and the truck.

“Mom’s gonna have a heart attack when she hears about this,” he muttered, shaking his head in abject confusion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for any perceived delay, but originally this chapter was going to be considerably longer, but then I realized the flow would be too awkward and lumbering, so I decided to trim-off the second half, and make that into chapter 3.
> 
> Hopefully, I'll polish off Chapter 3 a lot sooner, and I'll be able to post it for you all soon. But look, we're moving forwards nonetheless, and this also gives me time to figure out a long-term plot for the story.
> 
> Here's hoping!


	3. Chapter 3

**Ten Years Later**

The droning of the teacher’s voice bubbled in the background as Judy looked out the window, idly watching the birds hop from branch to branch in the boughs of the large oak that sat right outside the classroom window.

_ I wonder if I could lift that if I tugged hard enough, _ she thought idly, remembering how weirdly invigorating it had been to lift the family tractor that mornin. It had nearly caused Dad to collapse dead of a heart attack right there, if his panicked pleas for her to put it back down were any indication.

Of course, that wasn’t even the strangest thing that had happened in the past few weeks. Aside from accidentally deadlifting tractors, she’d managed to bolt across her dad’s corn field without breaking a sweat, covering the few hundred paces in seconds. It had been a giddy, exciting feeling, and it was a welcome change from the more...bizarre things that were happening to her.

At first, she’d just assumed that it was normal “icky girl stuff,” as her brothers would say. But she had seven sisters, and to her knowledge, being able to see through the walls of her classroom or hearing the sounds from the train station at the opposite end of town didn’t quite classify as “icky girl stuff.” Neither did accidentally causing a chemistry beaker to  _ explode _ , just by looking at it for too long.

“Judy! Judy Hopps?” The sharp crack of the teacher’s ruler on the blackboard snapped Judy’s attention from the window outside and back to the school classroom.

“Oh, sorry, Mrs. Shuster,” she answered, ears drooping slightly as she shifted in her seat. “Got distracted.”

“Hmm, yes, it seems to happen often with you, Judy,” Mrs. Shuster noted, her tone dry and critical, which seemed to be her default voice. “Nonetheless, I trust you will maintain focus for the rest of the class?”

Judy gave a dutiful nod, eyes darting to the math problems on the blackboard as she gave Mrs. Shuster her best smile. “Absolutely, ma’am. Will do.” She grabbed her pencil, discreetly rubbing away the doodle of Spider-Fox that had taken the place of the answer for the equation she should have been doing.

The class continued, and Judy’s brow furrowed as she tried her best to listen to Mrs. Shuster’s clipped voice rattling off the nuances of algebra. But for some reason, instead of carrying far and clearly across the classroom as usual - a fact she was always quick to point out whenever a student seemed distracted - the badger’s voice seemed to be dipping in and out erratically, almost as if she were at the far end of a tunnel or trying to shout into an industrial fan.

Instead, the sound that was now dominating Judy’s ears was the low, rhythmic “thump-thump-thump” of---

_ A heartbeat?  _ Judy thought, her eyebrows raising involuntarily as her ears began to search for the source of the increasingly distracting thumping. As her ears flickered about, the sound was soon joined by more and more thumps, each going at its own rhythm, entirely unique.

Judy finally decided to train in on a single thump, the one that seemed to be the most loud and clear. It seemed to be coming from behind her, and she did her best to discreetly peek over her shoulder. Sitting behind her, a paw rubbing his forehead in rapt concentration, was Bobby Catmull. Judy’s eyes narrowed slightly, and she quickly jotted down a message on a scrap of paper, passing it behind to Bobby.

_ Do you hear thumping? _ it read, and Bobby glanced up at her, his face filled with confusion. He shook his head, giving her a suspicious look before returning to his math papers. Judy huffed quietly, shaking her head slightly to clear it, and the thumping faded away into nothingness. But instead it was replaced with…  a commercial for a daytime soap? Judy instantly recognized the swirling syrupy romantic strings and piano themes as something her mother watched with single minded determination. Even the token narration was the same.

“ _On the next scintillating and salacious episode of_ **_Invitation to Love_ ** _…_ ”

“ _GAAAAHHHH! MELVIN! MELVIN! WHAT YOU DOING WITH THAT GUN, MELVIN?!_ ”

Judy let out a panicked shriek, jolting up in her chair as the sudden melodramatic shrieking filled her ears like a megaphone. Mrs. Shuster’s prattling came to a grinding halt, and the sound of her ruler smacking the blackboard cut off the soap opera star. The sheer sharpness of the noise caused Judy to jolt again.

“Miss Hopps, I will not tolerate any outbursts in my class! Do you understand me?”

“But Mrs. Shuster, I heard a noise and--”

“It doesn’t matter if you hear a car slamming into a marching band at top speed, I won’t tolerate you shrieking in my class. Do you understand?”

Judy sighed, sliding down in her chair and crossing her arms. Meanwhile, Mrs. Shuster cleared her throat and turned back to the chalkboard, writing out the algebra problems with chalk.

“Now, in this equation, X times Y equals 13.65, which means--”

The metallic ringing of the school bell cut Mrs. Shuster off again, and Judy winced as the ringing drilled its way into her brain, her paws reflectively covering her ears. With the ringing taking up most of her attention, she could only tell that class was over when her friend Lana leaned into her field of vision, waving a hoof in front of her face and seemingly saying something, motioning towards the door.

Judy gave a strained nod, trying to make the fact that she was enduring intolerably loud noises not  _ too  _ obvious, as she stood up from her chair and grabbed her backpack. Judy followed Lana out of the classroom. As she left, the ringing finally came to an end, and the strange imbalance of sound and noise ended as everything returned to normal levels.

“What the heck was that about?” she muttered to herself as a paw rubbed her ears, now ringing slightly. She walked over to her locker, popping it open and stuffing her algebra books inside.

“Hey, Judy, you all right?” came Lana’s voice, and Judy turned to see the the black coated sheep leaning against the lockers with a raised eyebrow. “You looked a bit out of it, everything okay?” she asked, following Judy as she shrugged and started heading down the school halls. Mrs. Shuster’s class was the last of the day.

“I don’t know, I’m just finding it hard to stay focused today - that’s all,” Judy answered, fiddling with the strap of her backpack as she walked. Lana gave a slight nod, her expression still curious. Lana was well meaning and probably the closest friend Judy had outside of her dozen or so siblings, but she was a curious type, prone to asking lots of questions, and - in the eyes of some - being nosey.

“You sure? You’re usually more focused. I mean, during PE you were just sorta staring at the wall for thirty seconds or something. What was that about?”

Judy blushed slightly. How was she going to explain that? She didn’t quite know what had happened. One second it had been just another generic school wall, and the next it’d seemed to fade away, and she’d been greeted with the sight of a locker room.

Namely, the  _ boys’ _ locker room.

“It was - uh - nothing, nothing, I was just thinkin’, ya know?” she finally stammered, scrunching her nose unconsciously, and she mentally kicked herself at how transparently obvious it was that she was lying. Lana’s expression seemed to betray that fact, and she smiled smugly.

“You know, Judy, you are an absolutely horrible liar. Whenever you lie, you scrunch up your nose.” She giggled slightly. “It’s like a big neon sign that says, ‘Hey, I’m lying!’ You really ought to get at least a  _ little _ better.”

Judy huffed. “Well, sue me, I’m not a fibber.” She quickened her pace slightly. Lana, however, was undeterred, and she quickly matched Judy’s speed, giving her a friendly nudge with her elbow.

“Come on, Judy, don’t leave your gal pal hanging! I got a gut feeling you’re hiding something from me, and we both know that never ends well. Remember the frogs?”

Judy bit her lip slightly. Lana had a point: Judy was terrible at hiding things. The particular memory Lana was reviving regarded Judy and the shipment of frogs that were scheduled to meet their fate in biology class. Judy’s attempts at procuring the freedom of frogs had ended as expected. This was undoubtedly compounded by Judy’s desperate attempts to keep ‘the Master Plan’ secret until the very last moment.

Suffice to say, she’d done a terrible job at it.

“But seriously, tell me, Judy!” Lana continued, seemingly taking Judy’s lip bite as a cue to keep probing. Her face suddenly lit up, a grin spreading deviously across her face. “Oooh, is it a  _ crush _ ? ‘Cause if it is, that’d make a ton of sense since I saw you kinda blushing when you spaced out in PE.”

“Crush?” Judy scoffed. “Come on, Lana, I don’t have a crush on anybody, I swear!”

“Oh come on,” Lana groaned melodramatically as the pair made it to the open courtyard at the front of the school. “If it’s not a crush, then what is it? Puberty?”

“Eww,  _ no _ ,” Judy countered emphatically, quickening her pace slightly. Today had been a little too weird, a little too fast, and she just wanted to get home.

Lana groaned, rubbing her forehead in frustration. “Come on, Judy, tell me!” She skipped ahead of Judy, blocking the bunny’s path with spread arms and a stern look. “Come on, whatever it is, it can’t be worse than that time you got hives! Come on, it’s me! Lana! Hello? Your best friend?”

Judy paused, looking Lana directly in the eyes. Lana’s face was a mix of steadfast seriousness, sincere concern, and maybe even a little fear. The look of a true friend.

Judy finally sighed, letting her shoulders sag. “Just promise not to freak out when I tell you, okay?”

Lana simply nodded, eagerly smiling.

Judy took a breath, taking a moment to put her words together. “I have… some special… gifts.”

Lana’s expression shifted slightly, taking on a somewhat confused aura. “Gifts? Like talents?”

Judy shrugged slightly. “Well,  _ no, _ not exactly talents more like...superpowers.” She practically whispered the last word, which caused Lana’s eyebrows to lower.

“What did you say? You kinda muttered it.”

“I said... I have superpowers,” Judy forced out, before looking down at the ground self-consciously. She glanced up at Lana, who looked at her with a confused expression.

“You have  _ superpowers _ ? Like...X-Hounds, or something? Because that sounds pretty freakin’ cool to me!” Lana replied, a grin once more spreading across her face. “Like what kind of powers do you have? Can you fly?!”

Judy shook her head. “Uh, no, I don’t think I can. I can see through walls, though. Hear stuff really far away, run really fast, and I can lift Dad’s tractor like it’s styrofoam. It’s pretty weird.”

“How’d ya get them? Is it magic, like Shazram? Or didja get bitten by some weird science experiment? Because last week in chem, that beaker exploded--”

“Pretty sure  _ I _ made the beaker blow up…” Judy replied, rubbing her arm self consciously. Lana’s eyes grew to the size of saucers.

“No... freakin’... way!” she gasped, hooves covering her mouth, even though it was still obvious she was grinning so widely it looked like her face was about to split in half.

Judy hesitated to answer, worriedly looking around briefly. “You’re taking this a lot better than I expected,” she said, unsure of how to continue. Honestly, she figured that when she told Lana the other girl would just laugh it off as some bad joke, not accept it outright like gospel truth.

“Are you kidding, this is the coolest thing that could ever happen! I mean,  _ wow, _ you’re a real life superhero!” Lana beamed, clapping her hooves together before continuing. “Show me.”

“Show you? How?” Judy asked, shaking her head. Lana put a hoof to her chin, scanning the crowd of fellow students who were still milling about. Her face lit up suddenly, and she raised an arm, waving towards a young otter idly kicking a soccer ball. Judy recognized him from the soccer team, but she had never really managed to make friends with him.

“Hey! Hey, Hank!” Lana started towards him, and the otter gave her a quizzical look. Judy took the moment to sit down on one of the benches, watching as Lana seemed to aggressively barter with the otter, who would occasionally give Judy a judgemental look. Judy merely waved back awkwardly, but the otter merely narrowed his eyes. However, it seemed that Lana won out in the end, as the otter gave an exasperated slouching of the shoulders and handed her the soccer ball.

“I’d better get that back!” he shouted after Lana, who merely cast a quick “sure, sure” response over her shoulder. She jaunted up to Judy, putting the soccer ball down on the ground with a thud.

“Kick it!” she ordered, still grinning as she crossed her arms, an expectant look on her face. Judy looked down at the ball quizzically, before looking up at Lana.

“That’s it? Just kick the ball?”

Lana nodded. “As hard as you can.”

Judy shrugged. “Well, okay then,” she began, readying herself to kick the ball. “I’m not sure what you’re expecting.” And with that, she brought her leg back and gave the ball the hardest kick she could muster.

Both Lana and Judy’s jaws dropped as the ball went rocketing up, up and away, even letting out a distant boom as it vanished into the clear blue sky, leaving only a small ring of clouds behind it.

“That was my ball!” came the otter’s angry response while Judy and Lana kept gawking skyward.

“Whoa… I didn’t know I could kick that hard,” Judy murmured, backing away for a moment. Hearing things, destroying beakers, sending balls into orbit...

“Your parents must think this is pretty awesome,” Lana said. Judy seized up.

“... Sorry?”

“I mean, imagine how easy working at the carrot farm would be if you can do something like that.” Lana continued, “You could probably harvest a whole field by yourself, and they wouldn’t even have to worry about it.”

“Ohmygoshmyparents!” Judy squeaked “I... I haven’t told them about any of this.”

“What? Why not?”

“This only started a few days ago,” Judy explained. “It’s not like I can talk to someone in their mind or anything like that. I mean, this morning I accidentally lifted the tractor, and Dad nearly had a heart attack. I don’t even want to imagine what would happen if I told them I could melt stuff with my eyes or see through walls.”

Lana shrugged, rubbing the back of her neck as she looked up at the sky again. “Well, and this is just me, but if I could do what you could do, I’d be honest about it. Like I said earlier, you suck at keeping secrets. And anyways, they’re probably gonna find out eventually. Might as well get it out of the way now. Like taking a band aid off.”

Judy bit her lip. Lana had a point. She’d been pondering ways to keep these… abilities… secret from her parents for some time. But then, she’d never been one to hide stuff from her parents. Maybe it was just the fact that, living surrounded by siblings, secrets didn’t stay secret for long in the Hopps household. She could imagine it now: one of her sisters (probably Mary, the gossiper), would eventually find out her powers and quickly blurt it out at the dinner table or something, dragging it into the spotlight.

At least if she went home and spoke to her parents directly, that would make it just a little bit more private. And maybe, just maybe, her parents had some answers.

“I guess you’re right,” Judy finally said, sighing as she shook her head, ears drooping. “I’d better talk to them about it.”

Lana nodded. “Okay, then. I’d better explain to Hank that he isn’t getting his soccer ball back.”

With that, Lana turned around and off towards Hank, leaving Judy alone with her thoughts.

_ How am I going to explain this? _

* * *

 

Judy sat at the dinner table across from her mother and father; their expressions were pensive and serious.

“So, how long has this been happening?” Bonnie began, a questioning look matching her tone. Judy shrugged slightly, paws fiddling with the table cloth.

“Um, well, maybe a couple of days. No more than a week,” she answered, watching as her mother and father shared a look. There was a pause as her father let out a long sigh, taking off his weathered baseball cap and setting it on the table.

“Well, I figure there’s not much reason to keep it secret anymore,” he began, rubbing his forehead pensively. Judy tensed slightly.

“Keep what secret?” She looked at her mom worriedly. “Mom?”

Bonnie inhaled, closing her eyes tightly for a moment before exhaling slowly. “What your dad means, honey, is - well - you’re adopted.” Her voice wavered slightly as if she were holding back tears.

“A-adopted?” Judy asked, the words sounding strangely alien on her tongue. “Wh-what do you mean?”

“Well, it was right around Christmas. 1992, I think,” Bonnie began, reaching over and taking Judy’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Me and your father, we were on our way back from a PTA meeting. It was late, no earlier than ten thirty, and we were driving down 137th, you know, the road that leads into town, and there was this big bright light all of a sudden -- kinda like a comet. And before we even really had a chance to figure out what it was, it smashed into the ground up ahead of us. Of course, that scared the dickens out of me and your dad, and so he stopped the truck, and the smoke around the comet cleared, and there was - well I’m not sure how else to describe it - a rocket ship,”

Judy blinked. “A… rocket ship? You’re telling me I’m an alien?”

Bonnie shrugged, sniffling and letting out a shuddering sigh as she took a minute to gather her thoughts. “We never could confirm that. All we know is that we found you in the rocket, just lying there, bundled up in a red cloth. Like a Christmas present. There was a blizzard coming, and we couldn’t just leave you there all alone, so we took you home.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Judy asked, shaking her head in confusion as tears welled in her eyes. “Why hide it?”

“We meant to tell you, Judy, we really did!” her mother cried, quickly tightening her maternal grip on Judy’s paw. “It’s just, you seemed so happy and not that different than any other ordinary bunny at first, so we… we always figured it’d be sooner, but life got in the way. We didn’t want… couldn’t… make you feel unwanted.”

Judy wrung her hands together. She could accept being adopted. There were times that she noted how she did not fit among her siblings, and maybe she didn’t look like her parents or siblings. But an alien? That couldn’t be true. Aliens were just fiction -- the villains of comic books and movies -- right?

“Wha--what happened to the rocket?” she asked, looking at her mom and blinking back the confused tears she felt building. Her mother shook her head.

“I don’t know. We ended up getting snowed in by the blizzard, and when Stu went back to go look for it, it was gone. Never did find it.”

She hadn’t even noticed that her father had gotten up, left the dining room, and returned with a small wooden cigar box and a bundle of bright red cloth. Judy only noticed it when it slid into her field of vision.

“When we found you, you were wrapped in this blanket… and there was this thing in the rocket with you. It’s in the box.”

Judy mutely looked down at the box and blanket, briefly taking the blanket in her paws. It felt as if it had been made out of cotton, but had the consistency of silk. Her gaze then turned to the box, and she reached out and slowly opened it. It revealed an egg-shaped object, seemingly formed out of glass, sitting in the box. Running along the outside of it, embossed on the smooth, crystalline surface, were unintelligible symbols. At the tip, there was a small, pulsing silvery blue light.

“Do you know what it is?” she murmured, looking across the table to her father. Her father shook his head.

“No. Never could figure out what it was. Me and your mom both figure it’s some kind of device, what with the symbols and stuff, but it doesn’t have any buttons or anything. It just sorta blinks. We thought that, when you were older, we’d show it to you.” He gave a slight laugh. “Guess that’s happening a bit sooner than we expected.”

Judy looked back down at the object. Something about it felt strangely familiar to her. She couldn’t quite place why. Almost as if she’d seen it in a dream. It felt like it was calling to her. Without saying a word, she gently reached towards it, her paws wrapping around the surprisingly warm object. She hefted it up, surprised by its lightness. It honestly looked as if it’d been carved from solid glass, but it weighed no more than her old Spider-Fox doll.

As she held it in her paws, it suddenly began to make an electronic beeping sound, and the symbols inscribed along it began to glow the same silvery blue as the light on the end had. The beeping began to intensify and the lights pulsed in perfect synchronization.

_ Uh-oh _ was the last coherent thought Judy had before a sudden blinding aura of white light shot forth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: The first half of this chapter was going to be part of Chapter 2, but obviously, it got moved to here, since it was obviously far too long to practical (we're talking like...7 thousand words or something).
> 
> For those of you wondering, Judy is about sixteen or so here, and the name of her teacher, Mrs. Shuster, is a reference to Joe Shuster, co-creator of Superman. And Lana is obviously Lana Lang.
> 
> But anyways, shout-outs go to tumblr users nightcrawler-fan, anchoress, and judylavernehopps for helping me proofread this, and iowaforever (who doesn't have a tumblr account) for helping me flesh out and fill out the chapter, since I'm self-conscious. Credit where credit is due.
> 
> Chapter 4 is planned out, so now to actually write it out. Here's hoping it's here sooner rather than later, but I can't make an exact guarantee. Good things come to those who wait, after all.


	4. Chapter 4

The blinding flash of white faded, and Judy found herself standing in a wide open, sterile-white expanse. From where she was standing, she couldn’t quite tell where the end of the room was, or if it even  _ was _ a room.

The ground beneath her feet felt like it was made of smooth and polished crystal, and the sound of her own breathing seemed to echo throughout the eerie expanse. She looked down at the floor, noticing how her feet seemed to be shrouded in a strange, constantly billowing cloud of white smoke, almost like dry ice.

“He-hello?” she called out, ears fidgeting as her voice echoed out across the void.  _ Where am I? _ she thought, tentatively beginning to walk as her feet felt ahead of her through the fog, just in case some sort of obstacle might be hiding in the shroud of smoke. This wasn’t the kitchen table, that much was for sure. Was this some kind of consequence for tinkering with…whatever it was her parents had found in the spaceship? Was she dead?

“Kara…”

The male voice caused Judy to flinch as she looked around fearfully. It seemed to come from all around her like some strange omniscient being. She looked up towards where she would expect to see a ceiling, but she just found more white expanse.

_ Don’t panic, Judy, don’t panic… just remain calm _ , she told herself, swallowing drily before clearing her throat. “Hello? Anybody?”

“Kara…”

The voice again; it seemed to be coming from behind her now. Judy spun around. She was greeted by the sight of a tall, noble looking rabbit standing a few paces away. He was dressed in an elaborate mix of red and blue flowing robes made of what seemed to be the same fabric as the blanket her parents had shown her. Judy hesitated. He seemed nice enough, his smile calm and stature composed. Judy had never seen him before - at least, not in Bunnyburrow, a rather small town where most everyone could at least vaguely recognize one another. But she still felt the vaguest recollection towards him, as if she’d seen him once, a long, long time ago.

“Who are you?” Judy called out, still looking around to see if anyone else was in the void with her besides this strangely familiar stranger. The stranger simply smiled back, giving her a slight nod.

“I am Jor-El.” He spoke plainly, his voice carrying with it a distinguished, yet hard-to-place accent. “I suppose it is not a surprise that you do not recognize me, Kara.”

Judy shook her head. “Wha--who the heck is Kara? Where am I? What’s going on?” she asked, starting towards this ‘Jor-El’ with determination. “This isn’t funny, okay?”

By the time she’d finished, she was standing right in front of this ‘Jor-El’, whom she now noticed was noticeably taller than the average bunny. If anything, he seemed more akin to a jackrabbit. He looked down at her with the same calm and contented smile.

“ _ You _ are Kara Zor-El,” the rabbit replied calmly, discreetly motioning towards Judy. “And  _ I _ -” he motioned to himself- “am Jor-El. I am your father.”

Judy blinked, taking a slight step back. “Wh-what? My name is Judy, not Kara, and you-” she stammered for a moment as she tried to think of what to say next. “... How the heck can you be my father?!”

“I assure you, this can all be easily explained,” Jor-El began. Judy gave a firm nod, wrapping her arms around herself worriedly.

“Well I sure hope so.” She looked around the white void. “This is starting to give me the creeps.”

“Well, the vast plains of the mindscape can be rather foreboding to the uninitiated, but you have no reason to fear.”

“Mindscape? What do you mean, ‘mindscape’? You mean this is all just in my head?” Judy replied, eyes widening slightly. Jor-El gave a nod.

“More accurately, this is a holographic projection of a blank mindscape. If we were in your  _ actual _ mindscape, it would be a far more complex and nuanced place. A swirl of memories, emotions, and thoughts. This is merely a projection room for what I am about to tell you. I suppose I should have chosen a more homely default setting, as this is rather…” He looked around the void. “...sterile.”

As he spoke, the white void steadily faded into what seemed to be some sort of laboratory. Judy was treated to the sight of dozens upon dozens of machines and computers, all shimmering, beeping, and whirring. On the opposite wall, a large window looked out over a large, steadily churning ocean where, in a stunning vista of red and gold, was the setting sun...which was blood red.

“Welcome to Krypton, dear Kara,” Jor-El declared, as Judy walked over to the window, eyes wide as saucers.

“Krypton…” she repeated, paw coming to a rest on the window. She could feel the warmth from the world outside. Everything.. everything was so  _ real _ . “Is this…where I was born?”

Jor-El walked up beside her, nodding. “Yes, it is. More accurately, it is merely a tactile projection of it. The real Krypton is…” he trailed off. Judy looked up at him, noticing his expression had gone from calm to troubled. “No more.”

“What happened to it?” Judy asked, turning to look back out the window as some sort of reptilian sea creature breached the waves outside.

“Many factors. Arrogance is among them.  We turned inward when we should have looked to the outside, and we remained ignorant that what we had done had caused the entire world to become unstable.” He looked away for a moment. “Krypton all but collapsed in on itself. There was no chance for any of us to escape... except for you, Kara. The last bunny of Krypton.” He then rested a fatherly hand on her shoulder, causing her to reflexively tense up.

She didn’t have a response for any of what he had said. Her brain was still trying to process everything she’d discovered. It was all happening so fast, world-shattering revelation atop world-shattering revelation. Not only was she adopted, not only was she some sort of alien, but now, as she’d just discovered, she was apparently the last of her kind.

“Why Bunnyburrow,” she whispered, voice wavering. It was the first question that had come to her mind. The one that, for whatever reason, seemed to be the only one worth asking.

“We--your mother and I--sent you to Earth because we knew that you would be safest there. Its sun--Sol--is fresh, young, and bright, not like our faded Rao. We knew that your body would easily soak up its rays, utilizing them for energy and feats of spectacular and fantastic strength. But even so, we found the people of Earth to be ones of great, unrealized potential. They reach for the stars, and while they may occasionally stumble, they continue forward nonetheless. That singular fortitude, that dogged determination, it stood in such remarkably sharp contrast to the sterile, neutered, and conformist world we’d created for ourselves. Without a doubt, had I somehow averted the disaster that wiped away Krypton and raised you here, you would have been stifled. Our society had grown rigid, self-centered. But on Earth? There is a freedom on Earth that Krypton long since lost. For that reason, above all others, is why I chose to send you there... my only child.”

“Only child…” Judy murmured. The phrase was so strange to her. She’d grown her whole life surrounded by siblings. The idea of being the only one, the singular example of not only her family--her  _ real _ family--but of an entire species...

“No, no, no,” she began, pushing herself away from the window and shaking her head. “This… this is some weird nightmare...I’m not--I  _ can’t _ be an alien. I’m Judy Hopps, just a normal everyday rabbit living in Bunnyburrow…”

“Who has powers beyond the comprehension of any normal rabbit,” Jor-El countered, once more appearing besides her. “It may seem daunting, overwhelming even, but this is no nightmare. Your destiny has found you, Kara--”

“Stop calling me that!” Judy suddenly snapped, yanking Jor-El’s paw off her shoulder as she backed away from him. “I’m not… I...can’t…”

As her excuses trailed off, she found her shuffling changing to a walk, then into a run. She had to get out of here. Had to get home, to where everything made sense, where everything was normal -- not some strange, alien world where everything was the same yet fundamentally  _ different _ .

As if reading her increasing anxiety, the image around her began to crumble away, and Jor-El was left standing in the center of the laboratory, his image flickering in and out along with it. As Judy’s pace quickened, her foot caught something hard, and she went sprawling forwards…

...landing face first on the worn wooden floor of her family’s kitchen.

“Judy!” Bonnie gasped, immediately getting up from her chair and coming to her daughter’s aid. Judy spun around, breath coming in quick, sharp pants as she tried to process how she’d ended up back in the kitchen.

“Judy? Judy what happened?” her father called out, voice seemingly being drowned out by a sudden surge of pure, unfiltered  _ noise _ . The sound of her siblings’ feet thumping on the floorboards and staircase, the neighbor’s birds squawking, and the roar of an airplane engine all piled on top of each other in an unrelenting wave. Semi-transparent images, layering on top of each other dozens of times over, and all vying for focus cut through the walls of her home, making her briefly privy to things happening in homes across the field from them.

It was so overwhelming that Judy’s brain leapt to the default setting of any prey animal when faced with such sensory overload--

_ RUN _ .

And so, Judy ran. Even as her mother reached out towards her, Judy was already on her feet and out the door, feet carrying her as fast as she could muster. Which she found to be terrifyingly fast. Before she could even process where she was heading, she found herself standing on the top of an unassuming hill, the twinkling lights of Bunnyburrow in the distance, and the wide open expanse of farmland stretching all around.

Now it was just her. Alone. Alone with the sound of the wind quietly rustling the overgrown grass at her feet, the chirping chorus of crickets that always came out at night. Without a word, Judy collapsed to her knees, letting out a sharp, heaving sob.

It was all too much. How could she go back home now, knowing what she knew? How would her parents respond? Her siblings? Her friends? To find out that Judy Hopps wasn’t just an ordinary rabbit, but rather some sort of alien refugee, and one who apparently had been given all sorts of abilities. Would they shun her? She’d always felt maybe the least bit out of place, what with her love of comics, or her habit of daydreaming, but she’d never felt  _ alien _ .

But she was. Completely and utterly alien. An alien on a planet where she didn’t belong. A castaway, the last of her kind.

Alone.

“Kara…”

The voice caused Judy to pause her sobbing for a moment, puffy eyes looking around warily. Judy was sure the voice was different this time. It was softer, more gentle. Matronly.

“Don't worry, Kara,” it said, and Judy looked down at her paw to see she still had the device clutched tightly in her grip. It still was glowing blue, the light shining awkwardly at an angle towards the ground, where, to Judy’s surprise, a small, projected image of a young doe smiled at her.

“What?” Judy croaked, wiping away her tears as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. The rabbit was clothed in the same red and blue that Jor-El had been wearing, and once Judy reoriented the image, the projection seemed to be a few inches shorter than the one of Jor-El.

“It is I, Lara-El, your mother,” the projection began, eyes lovingly looking down at Judy.

“My mother?” Judy asked, her voice still quivering from her recent sobs. “Bu-but how? Jor-El said--”

“What Jor-El said was true, my darling, but he was wise enough to upload reproductions of our respective consciousnesses to the device you now hold.”

Judy looked down at the device in her paws.

“I am designed to provide you with a message that the actual Lara-El left. It is her last. She hoped it would provide comfort,” the projection declared, and Judy looked up at it to see it flicker briefly.

“Wha-what did she want to tell me?” Judy asked, rubbing away the water in her eyes.

“Dear Kara, the time has come. I truly believe you have grown into a fine, beautiful young lady, who knows the warmth of a loving, caring family, wherever you find yourself...” the projection began. Judy felt a bittersweet warmth growing in her chest. This was her mother--her  _ birth _ mother, speaking to her. It felt strange, to be able to see her, hear her, but never actually be there with her. She wanted to say something, anything, but the words wouldn’t come. It felt somehow wrong to interrupt the message, the last one her mother had ever sent. It was the only one.

“... How I wish I could be there to see you in the flesh, but I know I cannot. I pray you never forget this, and you go on to live a truly free and blessed life. A life filled with those who love you. You may find yourself feeling alone and out of place, but you are not. You are my daughter. My shining star. The center of my universe.”

Judy was still speechless, mind trying to comprehend the swirl of conflicting feelings. Joy to know that she wasn’t some rejected orphan, but a beloved child. Confusion as to why she had to be sent here entirely on her own. Sadness that she never knew her mother as she now wished she had. Never to feel the warmth of her touch. The message continued.

“...Use them well, these gifts you’ve been given. Return cruelty with kindness, injustice with justice. Help the helpless and those in need, because while you may have powers, miraculous abilities, they do not define you. Your actions do. So live a life that speaks of nobility. Of kindness. Of love. Like the love I have for you, my precious one.”

With that, the image cut to black and a line of symbols simply blinked on the screen.

Judy said nothing. Somehow the recording, seemingly the last will and testament of her biological mother, provided her with a strange warmth. She could almost imagine this Lara-El sitting besides her, arms wrapped her in a warm, loving embrace. It felt like a weight had been gently lifted from her shoulders, making her feel buoyant… light as a feather, even.

In fact, she felt  _ so _ light-hearted, she didn’t even notice she was now floating two feet off the ground.

“Gwahaaaaaaa!” she yelped, arms and legs flailing about as she tried to bring herself downwards.

_ Flying?! I’m flying now?! _ She thought, brain desperately trying to sort out what she was seeing. Here she was, a rabbit, floating in the air after having been given a pep talk by a hologram of her biological mother.

_... I’m flying... _ Panic and confusion began to ebb from her mind, and Judy slowly righted herself a few centimeters off the ground.  _ I can fly. _ Blinking, she looked down at the ground, picturing herself firmly standing on it. As if heeding her thoughts, her feet slowly lowered to the ground, coming to rest just as firmly as they always had. The familiar and previously barely noticeable weight of her body once more rested firmly on the ground.

_ Okay… so I pictured myself on the ground, and I landed… so if I picture myself hovering _ …

And just like that, she started drifting up again, slowly and steadily, until she once more came to a halt a few feet up. She looked down at the ground again. She was really doing it. She was really, actually, truly  _ flying _ . Sure, right now it was just a hover, but with the right thought…

With a sudden rush, she sent herself hurdling skywards, unable to hold back the eruption of joyous laughter that had been steadily building. She barely even noticed the sharp, thunder-like boom behind her, as she was just too stunned to believe what was actually happening.

It was a cloudless night, so her steady ascent afforded her an ever-widening view of the open countryside around her. As she looked down, she slowly came to a stop hundreds--if not thousands--of feet in the air. She hovered there, eyes wide with awe as she took in the sight of Bunnyburrow, nestled in its little spot by the railway, twinkling like a storybook image. She could see the train tracks wind off into the distance where the distant lights of Zootopia were still visible

“Whoa…” she whispered, her breath coming out in a thin cloud of smoke. She hadn’t even noticed how cold it was up there, however high it was, but never in her life had she experienced such quiet. It was as if someone had turned the volume down on the entire world, and it was just her, floating up in the sky, suspended on nothing but her own self. It was strangely surreal, yet peaceful and comforting, like a dream.

She looked towards the Moon which was full and bright. Why, if she wanted, maybe she could even fly there herself.

“Judy?! Judy, where are you?!”

Judy’s ears pricked up at the sound of her mother and father calling for her. She looked in the direction the sound had come from; it was down and to the northeast. She squinted slightly, and, like a sudden snap, she could see her house, lights on and doors open, clear as day. Standing out on the front porch, looking absolutely beside herself with fear, was her mother, who continued to call out to Judy. Dad could be seen standing next to her, looking equally concerned.

It was then that Judy realized what had happened. She’d just bolted off into the night, leaving her parents… the ones who took her in selflessly, raised her as their own. The ones who loved her, even if she was some sort of weird space-bunny. And there they were, scared and confused when  their daughter had run off like that.

_ Here I come, _ Judy thought, smiling slightly as she carefully aimed herself towards home before accelerating at the house.

The flight home was astonishingly brief, a bracing, exhilarating rush of wind and sky, as she shifted from flying to hovering. It was the most natural thing in the world. As she came to a stop, she looked down, seeing the house directly beneath.

“Mom! Dad! Look!” she called out, waving a paw down towards them as the two older rabbits looked up. Her dad’s response was to bulge his eyes out as if he’d just seen a water fountain of gold sprout up on the front lawn. Meanwhile, her mother merely began to bawl tears of joy.

“Ju-Judy?! Judy, come down from there!” her dad shouted up as her mother tearfully beckoned for her.

Judy slowly floated down, only to be immediately tackled by her mother in an all encompassing embrace. Bonnie tearfully began to sob into Judy’s shoulder, babbling all sorts of expressions of relief, clutching Judy as if she were about to float off forever.

“Oh Judy, you had us worried sick! What happened? Are you okay? You aren’t hurt, are you? You looked so horribly panicked, and then you ran off so fast, and oh Lord Frith above, you’re  _ flying _ now, oh heavens, you scared me!” Bonnie cried as Judy gently gave a pat on the back. She looked over her mother’s shoulder towards her dad, who was now joined by several of her siblings, all of whom had come out to see what the ruckus was about.

“Judy, what on earth happened?!” Stu said, quickly coming towards her and pulling her into a hug. “And why on earth were you flying like that? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, Dad, really,” Judy began, giving her mom another pat on the back. “Mom, it’s okay, you can stop crying.”

Bonnie pulled herself off of Judy, holding back more sobs as she wiped away her tears, her light mascara visibly running. “You scared me and Stu half to death, I have every right to cry,” she replied, her words chiding, but the tone was joyful.

“You really did, honey,” Stu added, shaking his head while he looked Judy over. “Are you sure nothing’s wrong? Everything’s all right?”

Judy nodded. “Yeah. Everything’s going to be fine, Dad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is wondering how Judy flies, I'm just gonna go with "localized anti-gravity field". It's as good as any excuse, right?
> 
> The term "Lord Frith" comes from the novel Watership Down, and it's film adaptation. In the novel, "Frith" is basically the God in the rabbit mythology. So I applied the term here. I like giving a sense of culture and all. Helps make the world feel lived in and fleshed out.
> 
> Once more, special thanks goes out to anchoress, bluelightningbug and iowaforever for helping proofread and iron out the kinks. Couldn't have done it without you guys :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once more, thanks to my friends bluelightningbug, anchoress, and iowaforever, who provided a simply mountainous amount of help, and without which, this chapter wouldn't have been finished. Credit to where credit is due, after all.

“I can’t believe I’m actually going to go to Zootopia!” Judy beamed, clapping her paws together as she stood up from the bench, eagerly peering out over the train tracks, foot eagerly tapping on the concrete platform.

“Now now, Judy, the train doesn’t come for a few more minutes,” Bonnie said, placing a paw on the younger rabbit’s arm in a vain attempt to stem her excitement.

“Yeah, but still! I’m actually gonna be going somewhere _new!_ And just anywhere, but Zootopia! Where anybody can be anything!”

“Jeez, Judy, you act like you just got out of jail.” Jennifer, Judy’s older sister, added with a touch of sarcasm. “It’s just college, calm down.”

Judy gave Jennifer a glare, turning to respond, but Bonnie held up a paw.

“Now, now, Jennifer, you can’t blame Judy for being excited. Not often a Hopps gets to go to a big city college, so she has the right to be excited.” She then turned to Judy. “Now, Judy, are you absolutely positively sure you have everything you need?” she asked, looking over Judy’s suitcase and backpack for what seemed to be the hundredth time. Judy simply nodded before looking eagerly down the railway tracks again.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m pretty sure,” she answered, “If I forget anything I can just see if Lana has it. Didn’t we already go over this? It’s just college, Mom, and I’m staying with Lana. I think I’ll survive.”

“Just double checking, dear.” Bonnie said, wringing her hands slightly. “And I really don’t feel like you should have to return to the farm if you forgot your license or a change of clothes or your toothbrush or your--”

“Mom, I’ll be fine.” Judy interjected, putting a hand on Bonnie’s shoulder. “If I forget anything, I’ll just run back home and get it.”

“What if someone sees you, Judy?” Jennifer, Judy’s older sister, asked, arching an eyebrow. “What then, huh?”

“Oh come on, Jen, what are they gonna see? A gray streak? I’m pretty sure I can run fast enough to get home and back without anybody noticing.”

“Well just ‘cause you can run that fast doesn’t mean you should, Judy. You can’t just be showing off your powers willy-nilly, you gotta be more controlled. Remember when you tried to make Mrs. Hodges’ her soup and just ended up melting her pot?”

“That was two years ago, Jen,” Judy answered, crossing her arms as she briefly glanced over her shoulder as the train whistle sounded in the distance. “I’ve gotten _way_ better with all that sort of stuff. Remember when I flew Pidge O’Keefe to the hospital after she got lost in the woods? Or when I yanked the door off that car when that doe got into an accident? I’m pretty sure of myself now.”

“Judy, Jennifer has a point,” Bonnie replied, reaching out to clasp Judy’s paw. “I don’t want you taking any unnecessary risks. What happened with Pidge O’Keefe and the car crash were emergency situations. I don’t want you to be making a habit of using your powers all the time. They’re something very special, and should only be used when absolutely necessary. Understand? There’s no need to show off or anything.”

“But I’m not showing off,” Judy huffed. “I mean, I was born with these, right? I mean, Jor-El said they’re a natural part of me, so why do I gotta hide them like I’m some sort of freak?”

Bonnie shook her head, clasping Judy’s paw in her own. “Nobody is saying you’re a freak, Judy. What I’m saying is that not everyone is going to be as open to the idea of you lifting trucks and cars, or running faster then most airplanes can fly, or shooting lasers from your eyes. Stuff like that--as beautifully wonderful and normal for you--aren’t normal for everyone else. So just take it easy and keep a low profile. Don’t want to attract too much attention, right? Not all attention is going to be good attention.”

Judy opened her mouth to answer, only to be cut off by the sound of the train coming to a loud, mechanical halt behind her. She closed her mouth, letting her shoulders slouch slightly.

“Well, there’s the train,” Judy sighed, raising her paws in surrender. “I’ll promise to keep a low profile, mom. No showing off.”

Bonnie smiled, standing up from the bench. “Don’t be so glum. Come here, honey.” She spread her arms, beckoning for a hug. Judy gave a lopsided smile, leaning into her mom’s embrace.

“I just want you safe, okay? Stay safe.” Bonnie whispered into Judy’s ear, tightening the hug.

Judy nodded. “Will do Mom.” she glanced over at Jennifer. “What? No hugs from you?”

Jennifer rolled her eyes, standing up from the bench and wrapping her arms around Judy and Bonnie. The embrace then broke up, and Jennifer rustled the fur on Judy’s head playfully. “Just stay out of trouble, okay?”

“Can’t promise.” Judy jibed playfully, scooping up her luggage and backpack and heading towards the train. “Goodbye!” she called over her shoulder.

Jennifer and Bonnie waved as Judy eagerly hopped aboard the train.

“Remember to call when you get there! “

Judy waved back, giving a thumbs up in reply as the train lurched forwards. “Will do!”

As she waved, the train lurched again, and began to move forward, and Judy watched with a smile on her face as the platform steadily began to move away from her.

She inhaled, letting the porter take her suitcase, and she slowly started towards her seat. Scattered across the train car was a wide array of mammals, ranging from otters to sheep to big cats. She gave a tentative wave towards some of them, most of whom merely replied with a slight nod and raising of the eyebrows. She found her seat, finding that it was, luckily, a window seat. However, between her and the window, was a buttoned down looking skunk, who was reading a book.

“Um, hello,” Judy said, giving a friendly smile. “Do you mind making room, that’s my seat.” she motioned towards the window seat. The skunk looked over to the seat, before sighing to himself and standing up. Judy bowed her head in thanks, shuffling over to her seat and sitting down. The skunk soon followed, settling down in his seat and returning to his book.

Judy glanced over to him, extending a paw. “My name’s Judy, by the way.”

The skunk looked down at her paw, decidedly unimpressed, before taking it in his own and giving it a brief, very stiff shake. “Evans.”

Judy smiled and nodded, setting her backpack at her feet. “So…” she began, glancing out the window. “It’s my first time going to Zootopia, so I’m pretty excited.”

The skunk gave Judy a slight eyebrow raise. “Wonderful.” he deadpanned. He then returned to his book, seemingly deliberately shifting to face away from Judy.

Judy’s smile dropped somewhat. _Okay then…_ she thought, awkwardly beginning to twiddle her thumbs as the train’s motions steadily grew smoother. She glanced out the window, watching as the rolling farmland of Bunnyburrow steadily passed by.

As she watched the land race by, the full scope of the situation began to dawn on her. She was doing it. Actually doing it. For the first time, she was striking out on her own. Sure, a part of herself thought, it was only going to be for a few weeks, but that didn’t change the fact that for the first time, she’d actually be on her own, in a place she didn’t know, as an adult.

And she wasn’t just heading to any place. Oh no, she was heading to the city of dreams, the place where a nobody like her had the real opportunity to do something...to become something.

And it was an absolutely ecstatic feeling.

 

* * *

 

It was late in the evening when the train finally reached Zootopia, and as the train came to a stop, Judy eagerly peered out the window, eyes widening in awe. Sprawled before her, a glittering array of glowing neon and fluorescent lights, was the Zootopia Train Station. In a way, Judy supposed she shouldn’t be anywhere near as in awe as she was now. After all, she’d done her research. She knew full well that it was probably _the_ largest train station in the city--if not the country.

Judy was quick to grab her bags, popping up out of her chair and trying to squeeze her way down the aisle. She was quickly overwhelmed however by the sudden river of disembarking passengers, many of whom were several times her size, all seemingly just as adamant to get off the train as she was.

As such, she didn’t so much as walk off the train as she was shoved forwards, her feet scuffling and tripping over the carpet covered floors as she tried to avoid being stepped on by a random hippopotamus or cebu.

“Watch it, bunny,” Muttered the cebu in question, looking down at her with a sharp glare. “Get a move on.”

“Sorry,” she muttered in response, quickening her pace. Deep down, she had the suspicion that if one of these larger animals somehow _did_ manage to step on her, she’d likely be just fine. After all, she wasn’t just _any_ bunny. She could probably lift the cebu just fine. Of course, at the same time, she didn’t want to just test that theory willy-nilly. Better safe than sorry, as her father always used to say.

Luckily though, the flow of animals managed to carry Judy out of the train car rather quickly, and soon she found herself standing on the platform, the crowd growing less compressed as each animal went his or her own way. As the crowd thinned, Judy took this opportunity to better get a grip on her surroundings, and truly take in the scope of the train station.

The sheer scope of the place set her back. Instead of a humble, unassuming structure of weathered wood tucked next to the railway tracks, like back home, this place was a behemoth, sprawling array of walkways, all leading to the bright neon lights of the bustling restaurants and stores that were on the next floor up, linked via escalators to the platform where Judy was.

Judy headed towards the escalators, taking in the sights as she went. Back home, the local train station had taken a decidedly mundane, “one size fits all” mentality. It helped that most of Bunnyburrow’s residents tended to be, well, bunny sized, or there abouts. Most of the population were mammals like badgers, beevers, weasels, otters, and, of course, rabbits. The biggest mammal in town was Miss Gretzky, the town librarian, who was a grizzly bear. Her appearance had initially caused quite the kerfuffle, but eventually, things slipped back into their doldrums, as it became apparent that there wasn’t any real need to rework the town infrastructure or anything.

In Zootopia, however, it became quite obvious that the station was built with as many different body types in mind as possible. A complex network of semi-translucent, multicolored pneumatic pipes ran along side the escalators, and inside Judy could see dozens of small rodents, busily talking amongst themselves as they raced alongside the other, much larger mammals.

The escalator, of course, eventually came to an end, opening up into a massive foyer. If Judy had thought the loading platform had been busy, it paled in comparison to the multitude of animals she saw before her. Hundreds milled this way and that, the crowd so thick that Judy could only see the large advertisements that dominated the far wall.

The first one Judy noticed was pulsing on a large, jumbotron style screen. Emblazoned in purple atop a soft, pastel green, flashed the words “For The Animals of Tomorrow...Today”, followed soon after by the word “BellCorp”, all spoken in a soft, pleasant female voice. On another screen, not quite as big as the jumbotron, was another advertisement. This one simply stated “World’s Finest” in green and purple letters.

Judy paused to read another banner, only to feel something bump into her, and next thing she knew a blur of red yelped across her field of vision and slammed to the floor with a shouted curse. Judy gave a small gasp as she was drawn back to reality, jumping back slightly to give the other some room.

Judy saw that the other in question was a red fox not much older than her. He wore an ill fitting sport coat, rough looking denim jeans, and under the sportcoat, a borderline deafening Hawaiian shirt.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” she gasped, reaching down to help the fox get back to his feet. “I’m sorry I didn’t notice you there, I mean--”

“Yeah sure whatever daydreamer,” The fox replied gruffy, pawing at his sports coat, muttering under his breath. “Where the heck is my phone?”

Judy looked down at the ground, eyes darting about as she tried to find the fox’s phone. As discreetly as possible, she shifted her vision to the x-ray spectrum, and low and behold, there it was, having slid under a nearby bench not three feet away. She cleared her throat slightly, trying to catch the fox’s attention.

“Uh, mister, I found your phone.”

“Ugh, what? Where?” he grumbled, giving her a grouchy glare. Judy pointed over to the bench, and the fox merely rolled his eyes in response. “Of-friggin’-course.” he muttered, stomping over to the bench and awkwardly leaning down to try to reach under it. Several awkward seconds passed as he rummaged under the bench, before finally pulling out the phone. He looked it over, muttering some sort of complaint under his breath before putting it up to his ear.

“Perry? Perry you still there? Yeah. No I’m not dead, I dropped it. I tripped over some dumb bunny who wasn’t paying attention. Yeah, yuck it up,” he rolled his eyes, giving Judy a dirty look before starting to walk away.

“Hey, aren’t you gonna say thanks?” She called towards him. The fox cast a dismissive wave of the paw back to her.

“Yeah, whatever, bunny.”

Judy glared at the fox as he disappeared into the swirling array of mammals. She let out a huff as she discreetly checked her pockets, letting out a sigh of relief as she found that yes, she still had her wallet and various other trinkets where they belonged. She glanced back in the direction of the fox.

 _Well, lucky me I guess._ She thought, picking up her suitcase again, this time refocusing her attention on finding Lana. As much as the concept of just randomly exploring the wide array of locations Zootopia had to offer was a tempting one, she had promised to call her parents as soon as she got settled in, and last thing she needed was a bunch of panicked phone calls pouring in.

“Judy! Hey, Judy!”

Judy’s ears pricked up, and she turned towards the sound of the voice. A big grin spread across her face as she recognized the black coated sheep.

“Lana!” she called out, running up to Lana, arms spread wide, wrapping her old friend in a hug. “Oh my gosh how are you doing?!” she asked excitedly.

“Pretty good,” Lana began, adjusting her backpack on her shoulder. “What about you? I mean, I haven’t seen you in two years, something’s gotta have happened down at the farm. Or was my magnetic presence so enrapturing that everything ground to a halt after I left?”

Judy laughed. “Oh no, we’re doing just fine. I mean, the farm’s still running, Chandler, my brother, the one you had the crush on, got married--”

“He got married?! No way!” Lana gasped. “To who? Erica DePelt, right?”

Judy nodded. “Yeah, I mean, who else right?” she trailed off for a moment. “But what about you? I mean, stuff’s gotta be happening to you right?”

Lana shrugged. “Well, I got a job at the coffee shop, and an apartment. I mean, not a fancy one, but it’s better than the dorms.” she shivered melodramatically. “I tell you, if walls could talk, they’d say some awful stuff about those dorms.”

“Can’t be worse than overhearing Mary and her boyfriend, blegh.” Judy chuckled. “I tell you, Lana, I am determined not to become insufferably love struck.”

“Says the gutless romantic who always sees the best in mammals,” Lana retorted, sticking out her tongue playfully which quickly led to the pair sharing a laugh.

“So how are we gonna get to your apartment?” Judy asked, reaching down to lift up her luggage again. “You got a car or something?”

“No, actually,” Lana began, shaking her head and rubbing the back of her neck. “I kinda took the train here. Probably should've mentioned that over the phone. Can’t really afford a car, ya know? And city traffic is just..” she stuck out her tongue and grimaced.

Judy gave a slight shrug. “Well, it's no skin off my nose I guess. Lead the way.”

Lana responded with a nod and a grin, and motioned for Judy to follow her through the ebb and flow of mammals, which seemed to change and shift. For one thing, it soon became apparent that there was a visible difference in mannerisms between newcomers (like Judy), and locals (like Lana). Newcomers all tended to carry with them the same, general aura of wonderment Judy had been feeling: wide eyes, eager smiles, and whispering amongst each other all sorts of tidbits and trivia.

Locals meanwhile, tended to seem more introverted and wrapped in their own little worlds, going through the motions in a casual, almost automatic way.

Eventually, the crowds thinned out, as the general glitz and highly polished aura of the central hub gave way to the more utilitarian aesthetic that seemed to signal the local lines. Instead of highly digitized, glimmering jumbotrons, there were plain and simple printed billboards. Some were newer than others, the fresh colors contrasting with the faded wear and tear on the older ones.

The pair briefly came to a halt, the walkway to the platform blocked by a small metal gate of some sort. Lana muttered under her breath as she fished around in her pockets. She pulled out an odd assortment of quarters, nickels, dimes, and penny-like coins that bore the words “Zootopia Transit Token” on them. Lana turned to Judy, plopping a token in her paw.

“You need these to get on the train,” she said, pointing at the token in Judy’s paw. “I got a bunch more at the apartment, so I’ll give you some when we get there.”

Judy nodded, watching as Lana dropped a token into the slot, which caused the gate to swing open with a wurr. The gate closed almost immediately behind Lana, and Judy followed after, popping in a token as well.

“Sometimes if I don’t have tokens, I just hop the gate, but they don’t like it when you do that.” Lana briefly motioned towards the security camera. The pair quickly made their to the platform, just as the nondescript, polished aluminium of the train came to a stop.

Over the loudspeakers, a clipped voice could be heard announcing the destination, as the doors swung open and a sputtering flow of mammals, mostly medium sized ones like sheep, gazelles and big cats, came flowing out, as the waiting mammals began flowing in.

Lana beckoned for Judy to follow after her, as they weaved their way through the flow of mammals once more, hopping inside the train.

Lana collapsed into the unadorned plastic of the train seat, her gangly legs dangling over the side of the seat. Judy meanwhile, paused as she looked up at the roof of the traincar, the overhead luggage rack conspicuously absent, and instead replaced by yet more green and purple advertisements.

“Where do I put my suitcase Lana?” she asked, arching an eyebrow slightly. Lana, who had pulled out a thermos from her backpack and was busily slurping away, glanced up above her head.

“Oh crap, I forgot they don’t have luggage racks on the local,” she muttered, facepalming before hefting her backpack onto her lap and tapping the now empty seat next to her. “Just plop it on the seat next to you, I guess.”

Judy shrugged, taking her seat next to Lana and setting the suitcase on the seat next to her. The train gave a slight lurch as it began to move, and Judy gave a glance towards the thermos in Lana’s hoof.

“What’s in the thermos?” she asked, arching an eyebrow slightly.

“Oh this? Just instant noodles,” Lana answered, before offering it to Judy. “I mean, it’s practically a feast for a college student like us. Why? You want any?” as she spoke, before slurping up one last noodle that was dangling pathetically out of the corner of her mouth.

Judy shook her head, giving Lana a polite smile. “Uh, no, I think I’m good. Thanks, Lana.”

Lana shrugged. “Okay then.” she returned to sipping her thermos, legs idly kicking back and forth as the train whooshed along.

Judy meanwhile, turned to look at out the window of the train car behind her, a pensive look on her face. The sun had finally vanished behind the horizon completely, leaving a lavender twilight in its wake, which contrasted with the bright, shimmering neons of the sprawling, eclectic cityscape. Judy’s eyes widened slightly, taking in the sheer scope of everything.

So much bigger than home. So much brighter. So much louder. So much more chaotic. It made her feel strangely small in a way she hadn’t quite expected. In a way, the feeling of smallness and humility seemed to be a strange comfort, a weird, unorthodox way to confirm that yes, this was _really_ happening and she _really_ was in Zootopia, and not just idly daydreaming in the barn loft.

It was really happening. When she woke up in the morning, it wouldn’t be in her familiar, poster-adorned bedroom. It would be someplace entirely new, entirely foreign, and the start of a brand new, unwritten chapter in her life.

One which, she hoped, would allow her to spread her wings in a way that Bunnyburrow never could have provided.

A sudden sharp slurp yanked Judy out of her reverie, and she caught sight of a noodle vanishing into Lana’s mouth as she glanced to Judy with raised eyebrows. “So,” Lana began, pausing briefly to swallow what was apparently leftover broth. “You still gonna go for a literature major? Or did you change your mind?”

Judy’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Of course I’m still majoring in literature,” she answered, nodding firmly. “I mean, that’s I always wanted to do. Why change my mind now?”

Lana gave an acknowledging nod. “Just wanted to be sure. Be kinda awkward for me to go get you that typewriter and then find out you suddenly wanted to start, I don’t know, calculus or something.” she answered with a friendly smirk.

“You got me a typewriter?!” Judy gasped, a brilliant grin spreading across her face. “How did you afford that?!”

Lana shrugged. “I asked my professor for his. He was having a yard sale, I saw it, and asked if I could have it.”

“You really didn’t have to do that, Lana, I mean, what about your apartment?”

“Don’t worry yourself. I work at the coffee shop, so I do have an income. I might not be filthy stinking rich, but I’m not living in a cardboard shack or anything.”

“Well, still,” Judy began, taking Lana’s free hoof in her own. “I swear I’ll try and make it up to you, okay?”

“Pa-shaw, it’s fine! Really, Judy. Anyways, at least I can use the typewriter to help with _my_ degree as well.”

Judy gave a curious expression. “Oh? What’s yours?”

“Accounting.” Lana answered primly. Judy blinked.

“Accounting? For Lana Lamb?”

“Hey, somebody’s always gotta need money, and that means that somebody’s always gonna take care of it. Anyways, I sure as heck did better at mathematics then you did, so I figured why not? It’s unexpectedly fascinating.”

“Well, mark me down as surprised. Never would I have expected you to call something like accounting ‘unexpectedly fascinating’.”

“Don’t knock it till you try it. Anyways, once you become a famous author or something, I can handle all your money, so it works out.” she paused, scrunching her eyebrows slightly. “Say, did you ever finish that novel you wanted to do? About the radioactive ducks invading Portugull? Or did that get scrapped?”

Judy blushed slightly, biting her lip. “I can’t believe you remember that…” she groaned.

“You kidding, girl? I remember _all_ your stories,” with a chuckle, Lana shoved her thermos back into her backpack, tucking it next to her as she turned to look at Judy straight on, the bushy wool curling around her eyes as her smile grew bigger. “I’ve missed you, you know that. I mean, I really have.” she reached down, taking Judy’s paws in her hooves. “But now we’re gonna be galpals in college! Isn’t it awesome?!”

“Well, I’m a bit overwhelmed I think, but that doesn’t make this any less awesome,” Judy grinned in return. “And I’m not just gonna study literature. I’m gonna study mythology too. I mean, you got the really old stuff like Frith and El-ahrairah, and then you got the folktales like Briar Rabbit and Jackalopes--”

“NERD ALERT!” Lana playfully interrupted, letting out a laugh. “I swear Judy, you can be such a nerd sometimes.”

“Oh come on, Lana, don’t judgemental, Misses ‘I Can Recall Every Issue of X-Hounds’ Original Run’! Myths are cool! You got good, you got evil, it’s all so epic! And come on, they’re just like the comics!”

“Well, I guess you have a point,” Lana acquiesced. “Anyways, I guess you were gonna get into those. I mean...I guess you’re kinda like a real life superhero, right?”

Judy hesitated. “Me? A superhero?” Judy laughed. “There’s nothing really ‘super’ about me besides... well, you know.”

“Yeah, but still, Judy. You gotta admit you kinda fit the role. I mean, there was the fire, the school bus...”

“I’m sure anyone else would have done the same thing in my position.” Judy counter. “I’m just... a little better at it than others.”

“Judy...lifting a bus out of a river by yourself is way more than just ‘a little better’. Don’t sell yourself short.”

“Lana, I’m not exactly selling myself short..I just...don’t want it to go to my head. I mean, all I’m--I was--doing is the right thing to do. That’s it. I don’t want to be famous--at least not like that.”

Lana shrugged. “I still think you’re selling it short. I mean, I’m pretty sure if _I_ had what you had, I’d probably be in a costume already with my signal in the sky.”

“Ugh, me? In a costume? No way…”

 

* * *

 

The first thing that struck Judy about Lana’s apartment building, was how rustic it all looked. On a faded, somewhat depressing looking sign, where the words “Grand Pangolin Apartments”, which felt especially ironic considering the building was nothing if not humble.

A weathered brownstone jammed between a dozen identical cousins, the building was as generic as one could get. Obviously made to be as close to ‘One Size Fits All’ as the cramped nature of the neighborhood allowed, it was thankfully only a block from the train station, and the sidewalk was well lit by rows of street lamps.

Overall, a presentable, if forgettable building.

Once inside, however, Judy was taken aback slightly. The first thing she noticed was the harsh, chemical smell of freshly applied paint. A lonely looking bucket in the corner confirmed those suspicions. As Lana lead Judy up the stairs, each step, wood stripped down to faded grey, creaked and squeaked, with the occasional small rodent tennant shouting up at the two as they stepped on their small enclave of an apartment.

Compared to the sprawling train station, or the glimpses of neon-drenched urban metropolis seen outside the train windows, this place felt like a dank, moldy corner. Lana however, was adamant to point out that it was sturdy, and while it wasn’t pretty, it was affordable, and had, in Lana’s words “Taken on it’s own eccentric charm”.

They reached the door of Lana’s apartment, Room #310, which Lana had to angrily jiggle the doorknob for several seconds before it popped open, revealing the interior.

“So, here we are,” Lana said as she stepped into the apartment. “I know, it isn’t much, but…” she paused, rubbing her arm self consciously.

“Well...” Judy began, looking up at the simple, popcorn ceiling and along the faded wallpaper. “You gotta start somewhere,” she said, giving Lana sympathetic smile. “Trust me, I totally understand. We can’t all just start in a mansion or a big fancy apartment. And anyways, I grew up on a farm, so it’s not like I’m gonna be judging you.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Lana sighed. “It’s really not that bad once you get used to it.” she then looked down at Judy’s suitcase. “Come on, let’s get you settled in.”

As Lana headed towards the bedroom, Judy took a moment to take things in.

 _Well,_ she thought, taking a seat on the shockingly comfortable couch. _You’re here. At the beginning of a grand new adventure._

_Let’s see how it goes._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sincere apologies for the absurdly long wait time, but inspiration is a fickle mistress, and life's been cluttered.
> 
> Thankfully, I managed to pull through the clutter, writers block and fickleness, and finally bring you this chapter.
> 
> Originally, the chapter would have began with a slot of expository text to fill in the time skip, but whenever I tried to do that, it wound up just feeling awkward and clunky, so I decided to just let the dialogue that I had already written do the job, which felt less stiff and had a bit more flow.
> 
> Hopefully it works, and hopefully the wait was worth it. And most of all, I hope the next chapter comes across faster.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obvious thanks to my dear friends Iowaforever, bluelightningbug, nightcrawler-fan, and clarafy, who were a massive amount of help, and without whom, this chapter would have taken even LONGER to make.
> 
> I am so sorry for the extreme delay. Sometimes the muses just up and leave my brain for a few weeks... or months...
> 
> Anyways, I managed to pull through, and got this published, so that's an acheviement. I originally intended this chapter to cover a lot more ground, but sometimes when you're writing, you realize the chapter wants to go more or less in it's own directions, and therefore you're kinda just along for the ride. But don't worry, I hope and pray to get Judy into the costume as soon as I can, since I know that's what we all want to see, but at the same time, I'm keenly aware of the fact that, as an AU, I have to properly explain *why* Judy makes the decisions she does, and do so in way that is respectful to both her characterization in Zootopia, and with the needs of the AU.
> 
> It's a balancing act. And a hard one, but one that reaps rewards.
> 
> Also, Nick was supposed to appear in this chapter, but I felt his scene distracted from Judy's emotional arc in this chapter, and I wanted this to have a nice, precise focus. Hopefully I can include Nick in the next chapter, likely the opening scene, but I cannot promise this. We'll see how things pan out.
> 
> Please remember to leave some thoughts, comments and constructive criticism, because trust me, I live and breath that stuff. Anyways, here's hoping the next chapter flows easier then this one did.

The chiming of the bell above the door rung in Judy’s ears as she swung into the small coffee shop that Lana worked at, the warmth of the interior contrasting nicely with the nippy air outside. Her ears were greeted by the murmuring and mumbling of a dozen conversations, intermingled with the hiss of milk steamers. She took a deep breath of the warm, familiar scents of coffees.

She scanned the shop, idly pulling down her hoodie and noting the diverse array of mammals that were sitting at tables, standing in line, or simply milling about. They were either conversing with others or distracted by their own personal little worlds. She managed to spot Lana from her place behind the counter, the black-wooled sheep busily squirting whipped cream on a mocha, before handing it over to the red panda that was at the head of the line.

Judy let out a sigh of relief, taking a spot in the line that lead to the counter. She started to wave her arm broadly, until Lana seemingly noticed her. The lamb waved back with a grin. The line moved rather swiftly, as it was a little past ten in the morning, and therefore most of the morning crowd had already shuffled through.

“Hey, roomie!” Lana chirped when it was Judy’s turn at the counter. “What are you doing here?”

“Ordering coffee, Lana,” Judy replied with a smirk. “A bunny’s got to get her energy from something.”

Lana laughed, shaking her head. “You know we have a coffee machine at home, right?”

“This tastes better.”

“Can’t argue with that logic. What’ll you be having?”

“Well…” Judy began, looking up at the board where the various flavors and kinds of coffee were listed, all in increasingly elaborate jargon. “I _think_ I want the Carrot Latte.”

Lana gave a nod. “What size?”

Judy shrugged. “Venti, I guess.”

“Alrighty then. Just shuffle down there, and Gary will give it to you when it’s done.” Lana pointed towards the lanky beaver that stood at the far end of the counter, who was busily handing off coffee to the respective customers.

Judy began to fish her wallet out, but Lana held up a hoof. “No worries, Judy, it’s on the house.”

Judy’s eyebrows rose. “Really? You don’t have to, I’d really prefer if I--”

“Nonsense. What use is having a friend working at a coffee shop if you can’t shamelessly take advantage of their generosity?” Lana answered with playful sarcasm. Her smile grew warmer, and she reached forward to give Judy a pat on the shoulder. “Trust me, it’s no skin off my nose. I’m already sharing my apartment with you, so why should I charge you for coffee, right?”

“Still,” Judy sighed. “It doesn’t feel right. I mean, I gotta make up for it somehow.”

“You can pay for lunch then.” Lana smirked. “I’m getting off in like, five minutes, so just wait out at one of the tables, and then we’ll get fast food or something--order off the dollar menu, you know?”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Judy laughed and made her way towards the end of the counter, taking her coffee from the beaver apparently named Gary.

She made her way to one of the small tables, nestling herself comfortably by the window, right in a prime slice of sunlight. Something about sitting in the sunlight always made her feel especially good. Felt strangely like being recharged.

 _Meh, it’s sunlight. It’s supposed to feel good,_ she told herself, shrugging as she sipped her coffee. The thought still clung to her mind, like an itch she couldn’t quite scratch.

 _Then again… it's true I haven’t exactly_ studied _everything I can do._ She scrunched her nose, brow furrowing slightly. _I really ought to make a list._

She sipped her coffee, the line of thought sputtered out at the charming, slightly kitschy tingle of the doorbell announcing a new customer, a sound that would have gone unnoticed if it weren’t for the sudden barking voice that followed immediately after.

“Time to collect!”

Judy’s ears snapped up, her gaze flicking away from the window and towards the doorway. Standing between two positively _massive_ polar bears in tracksuits was a slender, ashen coated wolf dressed in a sportcoat and blue jeans.

Judy raised an eyebrow, a subtle tension entering her body as she watched the wolf brusquely push his way to the service counter, slapping a paw sharply on the linoleum surface with a snide, sharp toothed grin. He arched an eyebrow at Lana, who was still behind the counter.

“Mr. Wulf!” Lana spoke, eyebrows popping up in surprise. Judy could immediately see her friend shrink in visibly, eyes wide as saucers.

“Indeed it is, Miss Lang,” he replied, eyes catching her nametag and a voice smooth, but with a heavy coating of superiority. “And do you know what today is?”

Judy watched as Lana stammered, her hooves twiddling anxiously as her eyes darted about. “Thursday?”

Mr. Wulf snapped the pads of his paws. “That is indeed the case, but you know what makes today important?”

Lana shook her head jerkily, hooves still nervously twiddling. “No, sir, I don’t.”

Mr. Wulf let out a barking laugh, shaking his head and reaching forward, his big paw condescendingly ruffling the puff of wool on Lana’s head. “God, you sheep really are dumb, aren’t you?” He cast a glance up towards one of the large polar bears. “Ivan, care to inform our friend on why this isn’t just any other Thursday?”

The polar bear gave a slow nod. “Come to collect,” he replied flatly, his thick, warbling accent bubbling around his words like tar.

“Now hold on,” A lanky puma stepped up, and Judy caught a glance of a pin on her chest that said: “Monica Sullivan - Manager.” She seemingly made a point of bringing herself between Lana and Mr. Wulf, and Lana took the opportunity to immediately retreat as far from the counter as she could. “What do you mean ‘collect?’ I thought Mr. Emmerich already paid you guys.”

Mr. Wulf clicked his tongue. “He only paid half. We’re here to collect the remaining $1200.”

“Twelve hundred?! I thought you said that Mr. Emmerich only owed $1500!” the puma cried incredulously. “Where did the rest come from?”

Mr. Wulf just grinned again. “Interest.”

The puma crossed her arms, scowling at the wolf. “Of course.”

Mr. Wulf raise his paws melodramatically. “Now, now, lady, don’t hork up a hairball--I’m just doing my job. Now we can do this the easy way.” He suddenly leaned forward, his voice pitching down as the two polar bears leaned forward as well, causing the puma’s bravado to visibly deflate. “Or the hard way. You name it.”

Judy shot up to her feet, the chair loudly scraping along the floor, the tension in her body reaching a boiling point, a sense of indignation overtaking her.

The wolf’s ears instantly swiveled towards her. “You need something, bunny?” he asked, the superficial genial tone now completely gone, replaced by a sharp, cutting tone as he glared at her straight on, his eyes taking on an icy blue coldness.

Judy halted, tensing up. Something primal inside her took hold, a sudden, impulsive need to run. Judy stammered, the hairs on the back of her neck prickling. “I…” she began, swallowing drily.

“You what? You wanna start something?” the wolf asked, flexing his claws. Judy hesitated, whatever outrage that had been inside her melting away to nothing. Her eyes darted about quickly between staff, patrons, and newcomers, trying and failing to find some idea of how to proceed from there. Everyone was looking at her, eyes wide. She felt exposed. Vulnerable. It was a strange, alien feeling for her. Before, whenever the urge to help took over, it had been easy--just dart in, save the day, nobody the wiser--but now? Now everybody was waiting expectantly for her to make a move.

The wolf broke the silence with a chuckle. “Okay then, you ain’t gonna be saying anything. Scurry back to your hole, little bunny. Just sip your coffee, okay?” He turned his attention back to the counter, smiling toothily at the puma again. “Now, as I was saying… Easy way, or hard way, Miss--” He glanced down at the name tag. “Sullivan.”

The puma took a breath, before giving a stiff nod. “Easy way, Mr. Wulf.”

“Good. Now.” The wolf extended a paw. “Pay up.”

The puma motioned for Lana to pop open the register. Lana nodded shakily as she collected the array of bills, worriedly passing them to the puma who placed them in the wolf’s paws.

The wolf quickly set about to counting it, his coat visibly bristling as whatever amount of cash in his paw was obviously not enough.

“That’s all we have, Mr. Wulf,” the puma answered, swallowing awkwardly.

Mr. Wulf grunted. “And what about the safe? You tellin’ me it’s empty?”

The puma nodded, biting her lip.

The wolf let out a disgusted snort, muttering expletives under his breath as his eyes fell on the large glass jar labeled ‘Tips.’

“I’ll be taking this then.” He snapped his paws, and the polar bear swept up the jar. “God, this place is pathetic.” He grumbled before turning around and making his way out of the café, the polar bears dutifully following behind him.

The door closed with a tinkle and clack, and Judy blinked awkwardly. She slouched down into her chair, the sound of hushed whispering filtering into her drooping ears as she pulled herself inwards. Some part of her mind told her to let it go; the police could be on their way any minute, and then those thugs would get their due.

Maybe.

Who knew when.

Judy growled, fist clenched, and stood up, shoving her chair backward sharply as she stalked out, ignoring the sound of Lana calling out after her.

“Judy wait, don’t!”

Judy ignored it, pushing the door open and stomping out onto the street, popping her hood to cover her ears as her head snapped back and forth as she scanning the street. They shouldn’t be too hard to miss.

It only took a few seconds to spot the trio getting into a crisp looking black sedan parked near the curb a few dozen paces away. Her eyes narrowed.

“Hey!” she yelled, and the wolf’s ears pricked up again. He turned with a look of confusion on his face as she approached.

As Judy came to a halt directly in front of the wolf, his eyebrows rose, and he gave her a dismissive smirk.

“Oh look, little bunny wants to try her luck again.” He chuckled, the two polar bears letting out rumbling chuckles as the wolf took a step towards her. “What do you want, bunny? You some sort of narc or cop or whatever?”

“No, I’m not,” Judy replied firmly, planting her feet as she stared up at the wolf, jaw setting with determination even as he loomed over her. “But I’m not going to let you just walk away after robbing them blind like that. Not while I can do something.”

“Newsflash, toots, this is the way things work around here--natural order, if you will. They pay us, and we make sure they still have a place to work at the end of the week. Easy-peasy-parcheesi.”

Judy’s eyes narrowed. “Nobody should have to live in fear like that. Just give me the money you stole, and--”

“And what? You’ll gnaw my ankles? Kick my shin?” He kept laughing as he rubbed the bridge of his muzzle. “Gosh, you bunnies really are as stupid as they say.” He let out a sigh, his smile fading as he shook his head. “You’re in _way_ over your head, little rabbit. You have any idea who I am? Who I work for? Trust me, one word, and you’re rat food.” He ended with a sharp poke to her chest before popping off a pair of sunglasses and flipping them on. With that, he slid into the back seat of the car, closing the door and lowering the window.

“So skip on home to your little burrow, honey-bunch, before you end up at the bottom of the harbor, m’kay?” He gave her a thumbs up, smirking for what felt like the billionth time.

Judy’s paws balled into fists, and just as the car began to drive off, her paw shot forward, crunching the door handle in her grip and wrenching her arm back, tearing the door clean off the hinges as if it were a snap-model kit.

The sheer force of the door being torn off caused the car to rock violently back and forth, and the wolf began to panickedly bark orders for the bears to drive away. The car awkwardly lurched forwards, gears grinding and tires spinning.

“Oh no you _don’t_ ,” Judy growled, speeding forwards and slamming her fist down onto the hood of the car, the metal crunching underneath her fist. The car jolted to a stop. She clambered up onto the hood, glaring down at the thugs, eyes beginning to glow ever so slightly.

“Give. It. Back,” she ordered, extending an expectant paw and pointing to the wads of cash that stuck out of the wolf’s jacket pockets. The cash was quickly tossed aside, one of the polar bears aggressively crossing himself over and over while muttering in his native tongue.

“All of it,” Judy repeated, motioning to the tip jar firmly.

“O-okay! Okay! T-take it, you freak!” the wolf squealed, throwing the tip jar at Judy, who caught it without a second thought.

Judy nodded, climbing off the hood of the car and making her way towards the coffee shop. As she walked, the boiling sensation faded, instead replaced by a sudden awareness of her surroundings. The realization of the full scope of what she’d just done dawned on her.

There were dozen of mammals all standing about, gawking at her. Some had only just stepped out, looking between her and the car with confusion, while others stared at her with the same looks of shock and fear that the thugs had just given her.

She hesitated, the adrenaline-fueled anger falling away as she looked from one mammal to another.

_Oh dear.... Oh dear oh dear oh dear..._

“Judy?” Judy gave a small yelp as she spotted Lana approaching, the lamb’s eyes darting between Judy and the car confusedly. “Judy, is everything all right?”

“Uh...” Judy paused, chewing her lip for several seconds before shoving the cash and tip jar into Lana’s arms. “T-take this. Just take it,” she stammered, looking around at the other mammals self consciously.

“What? But Judy--” Lana barely got the words out before Judy brushed past her and the other watchers, sprinting down the street as fast she could without drawing any more attention to herself, pulling the hood of her hoodie even tighter around her face.

Things had gotten out of hand. She’d done the exact thing she’d always been told _not_ to do. She’d lost her self-control. She’d been noticed. _Everybody_ had seen her smash a car like it was made of plastic.

She wasn’t supposed to do that. Never. Not _ever_.

But if that was the case… why did she feel such an intense sense of satisfaction about it?

* * *

 

Judy paced back and forth, wringing her paws, and cast a fretful glance at the television, which was currently locked onto the local news. She knew it was coming. Any minute now, a picture--or police sketch--of her face would be all over, plastered as the central story of the day. She could imagine the reports now: “Freak bunny smashes car--police search all of Zootopia”.

But so far… so far it’d been almost three hours, but nothing had come up. The whole fight at the cafe hadn’t drawn any attention whatsoever, asides from some brief flecks of gossip that she’d heard a few blocks back. Most of the gossip seemed to be rather confused, but beyond that? Nothing. Not even on the local news, which seemed more preoccupied with some sort of fancy airplane that was going to be exhibited next week.

 _Why aren’t they reporting that? Don’t they report crimes? Maybe the police are still investigating?_ Judy thought, nibbling on her nails as she clicked to another news station anxiously. _Maybe they’re hiring a sketch artist… yeah… they’ll be coming… maybe not today-or tomorrow--but maybe in a few weeks? They might get a mugshot or pencil sketch. Then I’d definitely have to go into hiding. Nobody lives up at the Poles… like, maybe a couple of igloos here and there, but nothing like_ this _… yeah I can go hide up there for a year...or ten. Ye--_

The sound of footsteps scampering up the stairs caught her ear, derailing her train of thought. _They’re here!_ Judy’s eyes darted about, looking around for a way of escape, only to hear the door swing open dramatically and bang into the opposite wall.

“There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you!” Lana shouted, causing Judy’s heart to skip at least a dozen beats.

“Lana, please,” Judy began, raising her paws defensively. “I swear I didn’t mean for that to happen! I just got so upset--”

“Sorry?! Are you crazy?” Lana interjected. “That was the most _awesome_ thing I’ve ever seen! Do you know how long those jerks have been coming over, pushing us around like we’re nothing? And then you went and...and… did _that_ … it’s like a dream come true!”

“Uh...” Judy took a step back. “Thanks…? What are you doing home so early? It’s only been two hours?” She motioned towards the clock on the wall.

“The cops closed the cafe once they realized who Mr. Wulf was.” Lana let out a sigh, her shoulders sagging slightly. “Only for a few days, but... I mean, I got my job at the library, so it’s not like I’m gonna be broke or--”

Judy bit her lip. “What about me?”

Lana shrugged. “They didn’t really look into you. It was kinda weird, but they just figured Mr. Wulf was on drugs or something. Which is a shame, since I think they really ought to give you a medal for what you did.”

Judy blinked, before letting out a cry of frustration and collapsing onto the couch. “Give me medals?! What about me snapping like that is worth getting a medal for?! I mean…” She trailed off, rubbing her forehead. “It’s like, I had one job, Lana, one job: keep a low profile. And there I am, smashing cars--and everybody’s watching me! Heck, I might as well just march up to the police station and say ‘Hi! I’m a superpowered alien bunny! Arrest me now!’ I mean it’d save everybody a whole heap of trouble, and then they wouldn’t have to waste their time on some rabbit hunt or anything.”

“Oh Judy, don’t be silly.” Lana said, grabbing another chair and pulling up next to the couch. “All you did, really, was give some jerks a scare and dent their car. That’s it. More importantly, if you hadn’t intervened, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t even have a job any more. The manager can only pay for broken windows so many times before he’s gotta lay people off. But now, now he won’t have to do any of that!” She let out a chuckle. “And to be honest, I’ve never felt safer walking home after I saw you do that.”

Judy arched an eyebrow slightly. “Why? I mean, it wasn’t like I was being your bodyguard or anything…”

Lana shrugged. “I don’t know… I just felt I guess that, if you could stand up to guys like Wulf, then I’d be fine with whoever bumped into me while walking home. This neighborhood isn’t exactly paradise, but it’s not like serial killers or psycho cab drivers are lying in wait. I felt… inspired, I guess.”

Judy worked her jaw for a moment, taking a deep breath as she tried to find the right thing to say. “Lana, I--I appreciate what you’re saying, I really, _really_ do, but I can’t catch myself doing anything like that again.” She rubbed her paws together. “Somebody else might get hurt--somebody who doesn’t deserve it.”

Lana smiled, putting a friendly hoof on Judy’s shoulder. “Judy, trust me, you’re one of the nicest, most caring animals I know. Even if you can throw cars around or melt steel beams with your eyeballs, at the end of the day, I know that you’d never try to hurt anyone. No matter what.”

“But I’m not supposed to...” The words died in Judy’s mouth. She could still feel that fear, that unease that clawed at her in the pit of her stomach. After all, she _had_ blown her cover, and she had done so in the most public and extroverted way possible. There were probably animals all over town looking for her--whether to congratulate or arrest her, she wasn’t sure.

Even with the very palpable threat of being discovered lingering over her, Judy couldn’t deny the fiery twinge of satisfaction that now bubbled within her. It couldn’t be denied. She’d actually gotten up and _helped_ someone. She’d found a way to use her abilities, not just to quickly solve an immediate problem, but to actually make some sort of difference. One that had the potential of sticking.

Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea--to go out and help others like this. Maybe not as extreme, as brutal and impulsive, but to go and actually provide some sense of hope…

It felt like the reason she’d been born.

“I... I think I’d better sleep on it,” Judy said, pulling her knees to her chest. “It’s a lot to take in all at once.”

“Suit yourself,” Lana said, giving Judy a pat on the back as she stood up and started off towards the kitchen. “If you wanna talk, I’ll be in the kitchen. I managed to win some tickets at the college for some fancy plane trip next week. It sounds fun, but we’ll talk about it after you get some sleep,” She cast a friendly glance over her shoulder as she paused in the doorway of the kitchen. “Remember Judy, you’ve always got a friend in me.”

Judy couldn’t help but smile.


	7. Chapter 7

The ebbing wail of a police siren caught Judy’s ear, and she glanced briefly towards the window of Lana’s apartment. She was only greeted with the glow of the street lamps, and the scattered lights from apartments in the building across the street.

She looked up at the clock on the wall.

It was 3:15 in the morning.

_ Guess I’m not the only one who can’t sleep _ , she thought, letting out a sigh and taking another sip of her warm, sugar-soaked milk. She closed her eyes, paw tiredly rubbing her eyelids.

She’d thought that she’d sleep well after confessing her frustration to Lana. It  _ had _ felt good to get that sense of anxiety out into the open, to know that what she’d done back at the café  _ was _ a good thing. To a certain extent, maybe she was being naive. Expecting everything would just tumble neatly into place, would magically click together.

_ Guess not _ .

Another police siren went peeling by, and Judy remembered why she couldn’t sleep. Back when she’d first come to the city, it’d all seemed so pristine, so wonderful. But then nighttime had come. Back in Bunnyburrow, even with her super hearing, Judy had always appreciated the quietness. At most, you’d get the chirping of crickets, or the hoot of an owl. Other than that, the nights were peaceful and relaxed. Zootopia was a whole other story.

In Zootopia, the nights were noisy. And none of the sounds Judy noticed tended to be pleasant ones. There’d be someone shouting angrily at someone else in the apartment on the floor above them, followed by someone quietly crying. There’d be the near continual parade of police cars, racing by as their sirens screaming, radios a hectic chatter. There’d be strange, hard-to-place noises: creaks, groans, moans, rumbles. The shattering metallic clatter of the elevated train racing by. Maybe even the distant, sharp crack of a gun going off.

At night, the city sounded sick.

Judy’s shoulders sagged, and she let her face fall into her paws. There really wasn’t anything in the entire city that  _ wasn’t _ broken in some way or another. And here she was, just one person stuck in the quagmire with no way to get out.

Then again, the trains back to Bunnyborrow were always there. It wouldn’t be too difficult to hop on one and forget this ever happened, maybe just be a carrot farmer like Mom and Dad wanted. Away from Zootopia, away from the brokenness and sickness, back to somewhere safe.

_ And then what? _ She’d just go home? Go back to the farm? What good would that do? It’s not like her leaving would change anything back here.  _ And let’s face it, you’re just running away from the problem. _ Judy was never one to abandon somebody. Heck, all those times back in Bunnyburrow, she could have easily just kept walking. But no, every time, like someone yanking on a chain, she’d felt it. That  _ need _ to  _ help _ . It was like a compulsion. It didn’t matter the situation. She’d be in the middle of something, and she’d hear it. The yelp of fear, or someone screaming “HELP!” at the top of her lungs. And then, the next thing she knew, she’d sped her way half way across Bunnyburrow, ripping the door of a car, dragging somebody out of the water, or out of a burning house.

That was only small “heroics” though. Zootopia wouldn’t bother with that. The problems here? They were like grime, something that had dug itself in like… like a tick. And _nobody was doing anything about it._ _Some_ body had to do some _thing_. Had to.. To take a stand. To.. to at least _try_ to clean it up. Try and **_fix it._**

Or... perhaps go one step further. She felt a sudden flash of a memory go rushing through her mind.

_ Live a life that speaks of nobility. Of kindness. _

“I... I can do more.” Judy mumbled, her eyes widening slightly. She sat up in her chair, a slow steady dawning coming over her. “I  _ can _ do more… so much more! I mean, yeah, I got my powers, my abilities… but what does that mean at the end of the day?”

Another flash of memory.

_ I felt… inspired _ .

Judy’s eyes looked around the apartment, her eyes catching on the calendar on the kitchen wall. On it was printed, in bright, sunny colors, a painting of Zootopia. Above the city, in big, gold text, where the words “Zootopia: Where anybody can be anything!”

_ Lightbulb! _

She slapped her paw against the table. Everything had clicked. Yes, the real Zootopia turned out to be sick--but the Zootopia on that poster? The one she’d always dreamed of? Had always hoped to see? It didn’t just represent the city… but an ideal to strive for. All that was needed was a spark… something dramatic--striking--to shake everybody out of apathy… to show that they could be  _ more _ .

“And I’m gonna be that symbol! I’m gonna show Zootopia that we  _ can  _ do anything…  _ be _ anything… that any mammal can get up, get out there… make a difference!”

Judy was so filled with new energy, that she barely noticed that she was now hovering about a foot off the floor. When she did, she did not care.

“I can do this... I can do anything!”

“That’s… like… cool I guess,” Came a voice, and Judy turned to the doorway, eyes widening as she noticed a very exhausted looking Lana standing in the doorway, rubbing her eyes.

“Oh… hey Lana,” she smiled sheepishly, floating down to the floor and rubbing the back of her neck. “I guess I didn’t see you there.”

Lana nodded sluggishly, before tilting her head slightly. “So what? Did you find your purpose or something?”

Judy shrugged slightly. “I guess, sort of yeah.” she sat back down in the chair.

Lana’s eyebrow rose. “You gonna tell me?”

Judy blinked, before clearing her throat. “Well, I was thinking, about what happened yesterday, and how Zootopia really is. Like, it’s not what I thought it would be at all. I know, it sounds sorta dumb, but I guess I expected this place to be like Disneyland or something--ya know, magic kingdom and all that--but it’s not. It’s dirty..and noisy… there’s lots of crime, and nobody doing anything about it… but then I realized, it doesn’t  _ have _ to be. It--It can be more than that! When I was a kit, I always saw it as this fancy shiny city on a hill and I think--or I hope, I don’t know--that I’m the one who’s gonna make that dream come true.”

Lana blinked, her expression hard to read. “Well,” she began, shuffling over to one of the chairs and sitting down. “This mean you’re finally gonna be a superhero?”

Judy shrugged. “I guess so, yeah.”

Lana smiled. “Freakin’ finally.” She let out a smug chuckle, face visibly brightening. “You know what this means, right?”

Judy shook her head. “Um… no, but…” She looked over at the quickly spreading grin on Lana’s face with concern. “I got a feeling you know?”

Lana nodded. “Oh yeah… we’re making you a costume,” she clapped her hoof on the tabletop, before popping out of her chair in a flurry of unexpected energy. “A nice, badass costume for a badass bunny!”

Judy stammered, “Wait, but I thought you were exhausted?”

Lana scoffed. “Well I’m not any more! The gears are movin’, Judy, the gears are movin’, and I sure as heck letting this opportunity slide! It isn’t everyday you’re best friend decides to be a superhero, so I’m sure as cotton gonna make sure she looks as awesometacular as possible!”

“That’s not even a word...”

“It is now!”

 

* * *

 

**Two Weeks Later**

Judy peered out from behind her perch on a nearby ledge, smiling giddily as the ten year old elephant excitedly tried to explain to her intensely relieved mother how she was caught from falling by, as she explained “A magical angel!”

This was why she chose to do this. The looks of relief, the happy smiles. To her, it was worth more than gold. She watched as the mother took her daughter inside, hugging her tightly, even as her daughter continued to happily gaggle on about Judy.

Judy took in a deep breath, letting herself begin to hover again, as she took in the beautiful autumn day. The air was crisp, the skies clear, and the birds seemed to be quite happy as well, chirping and singing, as Judy floated up. The buoyant, fluttering feeling in Judy’s chest seemed to grow stronger the higher she flew, as she felt that quintessentially unique feeling of bracing freedom that flight always gave her come washing over her.

It’d been a really good day for her. Not only had she saved that little girl from falling off a balcony, but she’d stopped a purse snatcher or three, and even managed to prevent a car accident.

All without attracting too much attention. Sure, she’d been glimpsed a few times, but if she’d forever be known as just “The Blur”, something she’d already seen printed on several newspapers on the newsstands, then that was just fine by her. After all, this wasn’t about gaining anything resembling fame or fortune. This was about doing what was right, and inspiring others to do the same.

And that was enough for her.

Judy’s thoughts were interrupted by her phone buzzing in her pocket. Quickly zooming upward to several hundred feet, Judy pulled it from her pocket and started talking. “Hey Lana, how goes it?”

“Fine- wow, you’re coming through really clear. Where are you?” Lana’s voice asked from the other side.

“Couple hundred feet over Savanna Square. I had no idea cell reception was so good this high up.”

“Doing heroics again instead of your homework?” Lana asked, and Judy could practically hear the smirk on the sheep’s face. Judy rolled her eyes.

“Lana, really, it’s fine. I can write a fifty page dissertation in two minutes, but that’s no good if I can’t come up with a topic. I mean, I gotta do  _ something _ that isn’t just, I don’t know,  _ The Wizard of Oz _ being a metaphor for transmammalianism or sexual repression or whatever.” she rubbed her forehead with a free paw. “I swear, stuff like this makes me think I should have just been a cop; then I could get away with using my powers more regularly.”

“Well, you chose to be a journalism major, c’est la vie” Lana replied. “But what does that have to do with English Lit?”

“I guess it’s to help with structure and flow or whatever,” Judy shrugged. “Look, I’ll deal with it all later, it’s due in a week anyways. I got time. Worse comes to worse I’ll do a midnight cram session.”

“Okay then, Missus Procrastination, what are you gonna do in the meantime?” Lana asked, smirk once more apparent even over the phone. Judy was about to answer, only to have Lana cut her off. “ _ Besides _ heroics; once you’re busy with that you’re golden, but everything else... Judy, you need a job. Something to occupy your free time, keep you busy. Idle brain’s the devil’s playground and all that. Our wall can’t take any more darts!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Judy sighed. “Okay, job. What job?” she rubbed the back of her neck, idly scanning the area around her.

“Well, the coffee shop is hiring, since business really went up after you roughed up those goons. Why not there?” Lana suggested.

“No, that won’t work....” Judy huffed, making a wide and lazy bank towards the cityscape as she continued. “Everybody there already knows what I look like, I’d stick out like a sore thumb. I need to be somewhere where I  _ don’t _ stand out. Somewhere I can blend in, disappear, and I can have an excuse to duck out for emergencies…” she trailed off, her eyes scanning the cityscape, before they caught on the shiny, golden globe perched on top one of the larger skyscrapers, which had a chic, refined vague art deco look. In big letters, going around the globe, where the words “The Daily Planet”.

“That’s it!” Judy cheered, nearly dropping her phone. “I’ll get a job at the Daily Planet!”

“Whoa, Judy, what?” Lana answered, sounding confused. “The Daily Planet? Like, ‘Biggest Newspaper in Zootopia’ Daily Planet? Don’t you need to be like… famous to get hired there?”

Judy shook her head. “Nah, that’s just what they tell mammals that aren’t ‘in the know’, you know? My ethics teacher talked about it last semester.” She allowed herself a big grin. “I mean think about it, pretty much everything goes through the Daily Planet. They’re like the mob, but with less killing; I work there for three weeks, and I’m pretty sure I’d be able to pick up everything that goes on in the city  _ and _ show my parents that I can do something with a journalism career!”

“Okay, Miss Journalist. How are you going to get all this done?”

“Shouldn’t be too hard; I can polish off a good application between the stupid English paper and my heroics. I’m sure a few of my professors would be happy to give me a rec-” The near deafening roar of a jet turbine came thundering at Judy, and she felt as if she’d just gotten hit with a baseball bat as the wing slammed into her stomach, sending her tumbling head over heels through the air, and her phone spiraling out of her paw.

After tumbling, she found her bearings, managing to reorient herself.  _ What the heck?! _ she thought, scanning the sky hectically, utterly baffled. Her eyes widened as they caught on the billowing cloud of smoke. She followed it, and her chest tightened.

It was a massive airliner, and it was painfully obvious that it was in deep trouble. The black cloud led straight to one of its engines, and the aircraft was now visibly banking and arcing at a nauseatingly sharp angle as Judy felt the feeling in her chest change to an immense, plunging sense of dread.

_ It's heading right into the city! _

Immediately, Judy bolted forwards, coming up right besides the flaming engine. A brief flicker of her X-ray vision showed the interior had somehow been heavily damaged, with various props and shafts bent and twisted by--

_ Oh those poor birds _ , she thought, biting her lip and trying not to think  _ too much _ on what a gristly fate that must of have been for them. She instead focused her attention on the wing itself. Besides the flaming engine, she could see several dark red smears, along with the crumpled remains of the flock of birds that the jet must have run into. She bit her lip again, reaching her paws out and trying to give the wing a sharp tug. The metal groaned under her paws, actively beginning to buckle, Judy trying her best to make the plane go level.

As she pulled, the plane slowly responded, just barely missing one of the buildings. Up ahead, she could see the large, green open space of the Twin Parks. Was that her only choice?  _ The river was right freakin’ there, stupid Judy stupid! _

It was then that the plane’s nose suddenly veered downwards, and the jolt sent Judy’s grip loose and her tumbling through the air backwards. Her paws locked onto the tail, as she tried her best to figure out a way to counteract the sudden, unexpected dive. She pushed down, the metal groaning again, as the airplane’s wing clipped a rooftop, destroying the water tower atop it. The airplane groaned again, and she felt a wave of panic go through her at the sight of it visibly bending as she pushed down on the tail.

_ This isn’t working! _ She bolted towards the nose again, ignoring the gawking passengers and pilots, and instead focusing her attention on the nose. The ground zoomed up closer and closer, as Judy impulsively pushed upwards with all her might. The metal once more protested, but eventually began to  _ slowly _ relent, the plane’s nose steadily rising at a snail's pace.

_ I think I’m gonna make it! _ She thought, smiling despite herself, only to have her hopes sharply interrupted.

The first thing she felt was her feet hitting the ground, the sound of dirt being viciously torn up and torn to shreds combining with the swirling cacophony of metal and engine noises. The sound of the plane’s metal body hitting the ground felt like a punch to the stomach, as the plane and her continued to plow forwards, the dirt piling up behind her in an ever growing mountain as a massive new trench was carved into the once pristine park.

_ Please please please please please please _ she thought in a panic, as the aircraft  **_finally_ ** came to a growling, moaning, ear splitting stop.

Judy felt as if her hands were now somehow fused with the metal, the nose of the aircraft now a mangled, twisted wreck. As if in a daze, her paws released the nose, arms numbly falling to her side as she stumbled backwards, completely dazed.

She barely had a chance to get her thoughts back in order, as she suddenly was surrounded by a clamoring swarm of mammals, all completely ignoring the fact that an aircraft now sat in the middle of the park, instead rushing to get their paws on the small, grey furred rabbit who stood, looking as if she were staring down an entire army of vicious predators.

“HOLY SHIT DID YOU SEE THAT”

“SHE GRABBED THE JET!”

“I WANT HER AUTOGRAPH!”

“I WANT HER JACKET!”

“I WANT HER HAIR!”

Judy had to get out of there. Suddenly everything was so overwhelming. It was just like she was in grade school again, locked in a broom closet, surrounded by  _ noise _ .

_ I’ve got to get away _ .

With that thought, she bolted skywards, her flight carrying her as far away as she could. It was all too much. She needed to go some place quiet. Someplace where things made sense.

Someplace like home.   
  


* * *

 

“ _ And in a stunning turn of events, disaster was averted when Airline Flight 235 was crippled by a bird strike, which heavily damaged one engine. However, instead of crashing, the aircraft landed inside the Twin Parks, and witnesses claim a small, light gray bunny was responsible _ .

“Oh dear,” Bonnie whispered, fighting the urge to start nibbling on her nails. Disasters were always a cause of concern for all rabbits, even if they were not at the center of the disaster. While it was great that everyone survived, it would leave plenty of tensions about for weeks to come.

And Judy... poor thing. Even with her powers, that kind of pressure couldn’t be easy to deal with. Bonnie began to wring her paws together anxiously.

_ “In a press conference given shortly after this accident, Mayor Lionheart expressed gratitude to this mysterious savior of Zootopia.” _

_ “Do I know who this superbunny is? No; as far as I know they have no connection to the ZPD or any other government offices. That being said, I’d certainly like to change that up a bit- Zootopia needs a hero like that, and that hero needs to be recognized! I’d love to have her come down here, shake paws, maybe even give her a medal-” _

Bonnie’s nerves won out, and she quickly switched off the TV. Deep down, she knew that turning off the television would only provide a brief respite from the massive wave the news cycle would spew out for the next few weeks, and Bonnie could already picture her friends coming with all sorts of questions and speculations about what had happened.

_ And Judy... _ Bonnie gave a nervous sigh, kneading her paws together in an effort to relieve some stress.

She gave a start at the sound of the hurried knocking at the door. Smoothing the wrinkles in her dress as best she could, Bonnie moved to the door and opened it.

“Judy?” her eyebrows rose at the sight of her daughter, whose face was etched with worry, and her coat and clothing, which was a worn red bomber jacket and blue jeans, a wind swept mess.

“I screwed up, Mom.” Judy replied, stepping around Bonnie so quickly it caused a small gust of wind to follow. Bonnie forehead knitting together as she turned to follow after Judy.

“Sweetie, I know you must be under a lot of stress,” she began, but Judy shook her head as she flopped down into her chair, the weathered wooden frame creaking under her weight.

“No, it’s not that... It’s just...” she gave a flustered groan, paws awkwardly fumbling and wringing together as Bonnie quickly took a seat next to Judy, eyes burning with concern. Judy looked away from Bonnie, staring into the wooden floor beneath her feet. It took all her willpower not to burn a hole into it. “So Mom, how have you and Dad been?” She looked around. “Just  _ where _ is Dad? The kits?”

“They’re all out working on the farm, Judy, it’s harvest time. But don’t change the subject. What’s wrong?” Bonnie asked. Judy didn’t answer, instead just tugging at the hem of her shirt as she took a few deep breaths. “Judy, it’s alright, whatever’s troubling you. You can tell me.”

“I...” Judy started, tears forming at the edge of her eyes. “I just wanted to help... and then...” Her ears drooped, and slumping over and burying her face in her arms. Bonnie quickly reached out and placed a paw on Judy’s shoulder, gently stroking her back to keep her calm.

“It’s okay, Judy...” Bonnie said. “This whole business with the airplane, I know it’s a bit... out there, but you did a great thing today. M-maybe not what we had in mind when we said to lay low, but-”

“You didn’t see the crowds,” Judy said, sniffing. “The crowds... Mom, it was like everyone went savage spontaneously! Shouting, clawing, pulling- Gosh, I thought they were going to rip me to pieces! They kept asking me such... such...  _ stupid  _ things! Like if I wanted money, if I’d give up my jacket... I even think someone proposed to me!” Judy tossed her hands up in the air. “Never mind that I saved an entire plane full of people who are probably scared out of their minds! No, let’s all amuse ourselves over the bunny, the crazy freak bunny that swooped out of the sky and made such a big fuss out of everything!” By this point, tears were freely flowing from Judy’s eyes as she visibly held back sobs.

“Oh, Judy,” Bonnie reached over and pulled Judy into a hug. “There there. Sometimes people just start obsessing over silly things like that. But you’re not a freak.”

“That’s not how they treated me there...” Judy cried, shaking her head into Bonnie’s shoulder.

“Oh Judy, You’re not a freak.” Bonnie turned Judy towards her, wiping a tear from Judy’s eyes. “Don’t you  _ ever _ say that around me again. You are blessed in ways that we can only imagine, and you used your gifts to help others all your life.  _ You _ are a  _ hero _ , Judy, not a freak.” Judy said nothing, just burying her face in Bonnie’s chest as she gave a few short sobs. Bonnie responded by gently stroking her daughter’s ears. “It’s alright, honey, you’re here…”

“I don’t know what to do Mom,” Judy sobbed out, tightly wrapping her arms around Bonnie. “It’s like they’d taken everything you ever told me and ripped it up! Treated it like garbage! It’s like they don’t care! Now they expect me to be some sort of superstar! I didn’t want that! I… I just want to do the right thing… I don’t know how to deal with any of this!”

“Don’t worry honey, it’ll be alright. I know you. I know your intentions.” Bonnie soothed.

Judy shook her head. “But  _ they _ don’t! What if everybody thinks I’m just an attention seeking freak?”

Bonnie pulled Judy off her chest to look into her eyes. “Then make your intentions clear. Be honest and tell the truth! The sooner you do that, the sooner people will understand what you’re trying to do. You’re not in St. Canard, are you?”

“No… I guess I wasn’t… it just feels… so overwhelming,” Judy replied, wiping the tears from her puffy, red eyes. “I mean, it’s weird, I’ve spent so much time worried about what others were going to think, or how they’d react, and trying to keep it a secret… but now  _ everybody  _ knows… How will I go to school? Get a job? My life is  _ gone _ !”

“Well, they saw you maybe for a few seconds? It shouldn’t be too hard to make you blend in a little bit.” Bonnie reached out and pushed Judy’s ears back. “See? You look like a new bunny already.”

“It can’t be that easy...” Judy mumbled.

“Well,” Bonnie rubbed her chin. Her eyes landed on her weathered reading glasses, resting atop one of those dime store romance novels she indulged in every now and then. She picked up the glasses, turning them over in her paws for a moment before setting them on Judy’s face.

“It’s a start,” she muttered as Judy fumbled around with the glasses. “I think we can fluff up your coat a little bit, get you some new clothes, maybe a wig even... yes, no one will recognize you then, and you can do some more hero stuff in complete safety.”

“Mom, are you serious? How is this going to work?”

“Oh you’d be surprised, honeybunch. Why, not just the other day I read that the singer Gazelle does the same thing. All she does is let her hair down, wipe off her makeup, and wear baggier clothing and poof! Nobody knows its her. And if it can work for a superstar like Gazelle, then it’ll work just fine for you.”

Judy shifted slightly. “I guess…” she paused. “Now that I think about it, Lana was saying I should start ‘dressing the part’ when it came to hero stuff. You know, fancy cape and stuff. She even made some sketches.”

Bonnie smiled. “Fancy cape?” She stood up from her chair. “I have just the thing.” She made her way upstairs, before returning, carrying the same old box that held the objects that she and Stu had found in Judy’s rocket. Opening it, she pulled out the larger, billowing silken red cloth.

“Here, use this. I think it's only appropriate you use what you came wrapped up in, don’t you?”

Judy’s eyes widened in surprise, taking the cloth in hand. “But Mom…Mom, this is yours. I can’t--”

“No more of this ‘I can’t’ nonsense, Judy. As your mother, I command that you take this, and make something beautiful.” She then took Judy’s paws in her own. “Because that’s what saving mammals is, Judy. A beautiful thing. And you’re better at it then anybody else I know.”

Judy teared up again, before pulling her mom into a hug. “I’ll make you proud, Mom, I swear!”

“Oh don’t worry, darling. You already have,” Bonnie answered kindly. “You already have.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe this story hasn't updated since April. My utmost apologies, but my gosh inspiration was a fickle muse these past three months.
> 
> Hopefully though, the blood, sweat and tears were worth it, and this chapter manages to satisfy you all.
> 
> Once more, endless and profuse thanks to iowaforever, bluelightningbug and brideshead, all of whom have contributed greatly to this chapter, and without it, I don't think I would have been able to finish it. You guys all rock.
> 
> The scene with Judy and her mother is inspired by John Byrne's 1986 six issue mini-series The Man of Steel, which has been a massive influence on the tone I'm trying to go for with this story. Hopefully it works. I will admit, these past seven chapters have been expressly designed to better feel out how to approach Judy in this situation, since, as much as I'm tempted to just pour her into Superman's uniform, I also understand that she is a character all her own, with her own personality, and I want to be faithful to her personality and philosophy, and how that might shift if she had Superman's abilities. I guess it's a more psychological take on things then even I expected, but what use is a story if the characters aren't fully realized and sketched out?


End file.
